Lenovo T61 laptop Won't burn dvd - help with software

[raygg]

This is the short version......I need drivers to activate my OEM (Matsushita) optical dvd burner in my Lenovo T61 laptop.

In order to attempt to upgrade my lenovo T61 laptop from existing w7 Ultimate 32bit (I have no installation disk or
COA) to a w7 Pro 64bit where I have an ISO image and COA I need to burn a dvd. However the laptop does not have the correct software to burn a dvd - it was loaded previous;ly without WinDVD which was the software used by Lenovo for the optical drive. Tried to download free windvd and my webroot antivirus is finding a large package of malware related to the "conduit" software label. The only way I could download this was to turn off webroot - then when I turn it on it starts deleting all this "conduit " malware that was just downloaded - while the installation software that was downloaded steers me to one pof those wesites where I have to select 2 magazine subscriptions or buy some pills etc. Yuk!. Another very annoying side-effect is now my google search engine has been replaced by Bing - which I cannot begin to tell you how much I dislike. So I gave up with the windvd. But I am now stuck with Bing.

On the Lenovo website I can download the software updates for windvd but they are useless without an original installation. I have Nero10 Suite which includes burning software but apparently not the drivers to make the optical drive work. Bottom line I need software to make the optical drive enabled with drivers to Burn cd/dvd disks - it reads them fine.Once I have the software installed I can burn an iso image and then upgrade to the 64 bit installation.

 

[rclarke250]

You do know that windows 7 can and does burn .iso files to a cd or dvd right? Just right click the .iso image and select burn image. The only drivers that are needed are native to windows 7 also. are there any issues in the device manager? Are you sure that the drive is dvd write capable? they did have some that were cdrw/dvd combo drive where it would burn a cd, but only able to read dvd. what is the model of the optical drive?

 

[raygg]

Above is the short version -

the longer version is the laptop fell from a desk onto a hard floor while it was turned on running a 750gb hd with w7 Pro 64bit, but hd is now unreadable. I removed that hd and replaced it with the current 100gb hd which came with the current OS when I got the laptop used 2 yrs ago.

The OS I will reinstall is the same one that was on the kaput HD, which was installed with this same ISO two years sgo. I wrote a dvd with the ISO 2 yrs ago when I was running win XP 32 bit using yet a third different HD in this same physical laptop, but now the drive error message with the win 7 Ultimate reading that dvd during the attempt to burn the iso is the media is unreadable, altho with the same drive I installed Nero 10 Suite today proving the drive is dvd read capable. With the Win7 64bit OS and the Win XP 32bit OS the DVD RW capability was fine.


Just to complete the genesis explanation - the laptop was purchased used when an identical T61 that I had bought new from Lenovo that came with XP Pro 32bit installed on a 160gb hd. Later I got a legal win7 Pro 64 bit iso thru a legal download with COA which I installed on a new 750gb hd. That's why there are 3 hd's and 3 OS's involved in this matter.

Since reinstalling the the HD containing win7 Ultimate 32 bit, I ran Belarc Advisor as well as Nero 10 evaluation tools which tell me the optical drive can only read DVD and not write them. I tried to write to 3 different brands of blank writeable DVD's with no success - in using the Windows Burn function after pointing to the ISO the message I got back was insert a blank disc in the drive. So my current suspicion is that when the win 7 Ult 32 bit was installed it was done in such a way that there were no drivers included for the dvd write function. There was also no Lenovo recovery or monitor package tools - which are always found on a Lenovo laptop.

One further thing I can try is to reinstall the hd containing the xp 32 bit os and see if the dvd is write capable.

This is all very frustrating and time consuming.

 

[goombawaho]

How about this idea: You ruined the optical drive by dropping the laptop!?!?! If a firmware update doesn't fix it, I'd consider it buggered.

You really can't do anything during Windows 7 install to screw up the built-in burning function.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[raygg]

I was thinking about that- wouldn't that show up in a hardware test by the Lenovo monitoring software? Can I harvest the optical drv from my old dead T61 that started this whole story to replce the suspect drive? I have done repairs like replace the heat sink and screen so I am capable of working on this.

 

[raygg]

Is it possible the write function can malfunction although the read function still works?

 

[goombawaho]

Yes, the failure mode you mention is possible. But the only way to be sure is to swap it into another PC and test to confirm. Probably not possible for you.
Is there a firmware update?????????!!!!!!

If the way the optical drive installs into the laptops are the same, you should be able to transplant old ODD into new laptop. It should be very quick and easy.

Video here (takes 30 seconds to do it if drives are compatible): Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.