CD-RW not reading music CD's 1

[cjbrown815]

Hi, I had a ..um..cute friend drop off her HP Pavillion and I had to reinstall windows XP for her, alls working but the CD-RW. the device manager says its working fine, the drivers loaded successfully. I did the old unplug the drive reboot, then plug it in and let the system detect it.

It will load Diablo II, I reinstalled windows using the CD-RW, its in explorer. It just doesnt see music cd's or the IP setup disk. I think it's just going to hell.

What should I try or do next? I'd hate to have her buy a new one and find out the problem is still there.

Thanks as always,
Cj

CJ Brown

 

[Sympology]

IS is all music cd's or have you tried a couple? Copy portection can screw them up. Dig out an old one and see if that works...

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004

 

[cjbrown815]

Thanks for the help Stu,

I tried several cd's, the Diablo II cd (asking to be installed, but being read regardless)fire's up right away.

CJ Brown

 

[kjv1611]

Question: you say it isn't reading audio CD's. So, are you saying you just can't hear them playing, or that it can't even explore the disks at all? If it is exploring the disks, but you just don't hear anything it could be one of several other easy to fix problems.

 

[cjbrown815]

It isn't reading/exploring. It doesnt even know there is a disk in there when it's a music cd.


thanks

CJ Brown

 

[kjv1611]

Are these all store-bought disks, or are they burned Music CD-R's or CD-RW's?

Also, what model of CD Burner is it? Is it more of a generic brand or main stream. Another thought: how old is it? Older CD-Roms and CD Burners do occasionally have difficulties in trying to read audio CDs.

 

[cjbrown815]

I've tried store bought & CD-RW. It doesnt show any files

Its a generic HP CD-RW

Not sure how old it is but it had XP originally loaded.

Thanks for the help

CJ Brown

 

[kjv1611]

2 ideas (sorry if already mentioned here elsewhere):
1.) Have you gone to

http://www.hp.com

and searched for any firmware updates to that CD burner? If not, try that.

2.) Do you have another CD burner you can try in the same machine? If so, and you've not tried it, try that. It the other burner works fine, then it's the drive, itself. You can get a brand new one for as cheap as $20 or $30 or even a DVD burner for between $30 and $50 (that is, unless there's a big sale - then you'll find them even cheaper).

 

[cjbrown815]

Thanks,
I tried the lens cleaner last night and the drive doesnt recognize it. Then I blew it out and tried again, still nothing

I thought about swapping out the drive with one on my computer to check the hardware itself, maybe I'll do that during vacay. (Actually that fact that this is a favor for someone is causing me to lose interest, but my pride is driving me on)

I didnt think about checking for firmware updates though. I'll try that before I make her buy a new one.

thanks again for your help

CJ Brown

 

[kjv1611]

I would think it would have to be firmware or just a bad/old drive if it will read one type of disk, and not another type. If it were the lense, I would think it would have trouble reading ANY disk.

I hope you end up solving this one! :0)

 

[micker377]

I read somewhere (back a while), that often CD and DVD use seperate lenses. It's possible that one lens is defective.

 

[johnbullas]

I just installed a new Samsung LightScribe DVD +/- etc etc drive (IDE) Windows XP SP2 found it installed it but it would only work as a CD ROM until it got fed Nero 6....

Suggest you try the same as I had swapped IDE cables, eliminated it using Device Manager etc etc to no joy...