CD/DVD Combo is now just a DVD

[Tim58]

My Acer Notebook came with a combo CD/DVD RW.

Recently I noticed I couldn't read CD disks at all, but no problem reading DVD disks.

Device Manager reports only a DVD Drive. I tried uninstalling & rebooting the Notebook but it came right back as a DVD drive.

Is it possible that only the DVD part of this combo unit would work, or could it be a Windows XP Driver issue?

 

[wahnula]

Tim58,

Happens all the time, one function of combo drives goes out while the other stays working. Is this a modular drive? Look for a release button at the bottom of the laptop.

Tony

 

[Tim58]

No, it's not a modular drive. I have to remove the keyboard to get at it.

 

[wahnula]

Tim58,

You can always try a few half-second bursts of canned air, or try a lens-cleaning CD if you have one, but I'm guessing the CD laser diode is dead.

From:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BRZ/is_11_20/ai_77058317/pg_2

A DVD-ROM pickup unit requires two laser diodes, one for DVD and another for CD since reading CD-R media is a requirement for a combo drive. The reason for the second laser is that the die used for CD-R media is not visible to the 630-650nm wavelength of a DVD laser, therefore a CD laser with 780nm wavelength is required in order to read that media.

One option is a USB 2.0 CD drive, I don't think Windows is to blame for this one. Boot into Safe Mode or try a System Restore as a last gasp...