My drive will only read DVDs, nothing else!

Hey folks. I have been having trouble with my over 2 year old Gateway notebook. For the past few months I have been laying around and not tried at all to fix this dang problem. Here's the ghist. I put in a GAME cd or PROGRAM cd, and the laptop sits there making weird beeping noises and I can see flashes of orange by disc reader. I put in a DVD, the fan starts running and it opens it up and plays it. Things I've tried: -looked for harddrive updates -smacked computer(joking) -turned on autoplay<- no idea what the heck went on there. I am a mere 14 year old trying to fix this. My parents aren't tech friendly so I live on my own when it comes to this. If I used words wrong (harddrive) or whatever, just correct it and help me fix this problem. Thanks.

Be nice if somebody helped me..

Hi Halo3freak Thats normally indication of the drive failing. In some instances, it can be because of a dirty lens, so try a lens cleaner first. If that doesn't work, I'm almost certain that it is the drive that is failing. Regards Abydos

Thanks mate. So I ought to go out to a store and get a lens cleaner. AND if that doesn't work, I'm skrewed right? EDIT: If it is failing will I need to send it in for maintence or something? Replacement?

If you don't have any warranty left on it, its cheaper to buy a new unit. So, try a lens cleaner, they can be bought in any computer shop. In (very) rare cases it may be a driver problem, so having a look at the firmware for your drive may prove useful aswell. Regards Abydos

Alright. Thanks again. No warranty left on it that's for shure.

Alright, I tried a lens cleaner and my discs still don't work. So now what? I dont know what a firmware is. When you say "unit" do you mean laptop or harddrive. At the store I saw harddrives for sale. I also noticed something. I went to run, the DVD/RE drive and found something very interesting. It IMMEDIATELEY said "Please insert a disc into drive E" What the -blam-? I put in a random game CD I had and that popped up. I used my cleaner 3 times and no results. It's okay, I am using it on my family computer next, the cars player and some other stuff. You have no clue how thankful I am for your help, as I said no one in my family knows -blam- about computers.

Hi Halo3freak

By unit I mean of course a new DVD/CD rom Drive, not a whole new computer

One thing you could try, is remove the drive temporarily, and let windows find it again, which will re-install drivers
for the drive.

Follow this procedure:

Open "My Computer" or Start–>Controlpanel–>System–>Hardware–>Device manager
Find your drive under DVD/CD rom drives.

Right-click and choose properties.
Uninstall / remove driver with the radio-button at the bottom.
Reboot and let windows find the drive once again.
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Firmware, is drivers or other software upgrades. Sometimes if hardware doesn't play along nicely
with an OS (operating system) for some reason or another, the firm upgrades the software with either
patches or whole new programs/drivers. If your Drive is a standard drive, I wouldn't bother try looking.
But if you got a somewhat more fancy drive, like a phillips or Samsung drive, it could be worth a shot.

I must admit, I don't know the replacement cost for a Drive for a laptop, but assume its the same as for a desktop.
For actual prices, you have to search for that in your country and currency. I don't know where in the world you're located,
and me living in Denmark doesn't help as prices and income varies for the individual countries.
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Is it still only CD's it won't recognize?

Regards Abydos

If it's not reading cd's but is reading dvd's, it's possibly a low level driver issue, this is rare.

The best test is to take a bootable CD and if the laptop does not read it when set to boot to it, it's fairly certain the drive is defective/dirty

If the cd boots then the drive is fine and you need to fix the software problem

I was troubleshooting one thread in a digital video forum where the poster had ordered and replaced his dvd burner, the new one didn't work, he sent it back to newegg, the next didn't work either, he was ready to send that back too.

We removed the lower and upper filter drivers, his original drive was fine also

http://www.bustrace.com/products/devfilter.htm

laptop drives are more expensive and harder to match up, since master/slave status is set thru firmware

——————————————————————————————————————————————————- Is it still only CD's it won't recognize? Regards Abydos Well, I tried the re installing thing, followed all your steps and I can't find that button. When I say CD's I mean the following: It CAN read: -DVDs It can't read: -CD-ROMS (gaming cds, software, music etc.) But thanks for the help guys/girls.

How do I remove the upper and lower filter drivers, I can't figure it out..

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Well, I tried the re installing thing, followed all your steps and I can't find that button.

When you are in the Device manager section. Find DVD/CD Rom drives, click on the "plus" sign, and highlight your drive. Rightclick, properties, Driver tab, click remove driver and reboot.

Upon next reboot, windows should inform that it have found new hardware. Follow the instructions.

Regards Abydos

http://www.bustrace.com/downloads/devfilter.exe

try removing the devise first and rebooting, that's easiest

then if that doesn't work post the filter drive load order

select the drive and then use the clipboard and paste into a reply

—————————————————-
Filter Driver Load Order http://www.bustrace.com
—————————————————-

Upper Device Filter: redbook
Device Object: BENQ DVD DD DW1650
Lower Class Filter: MxlW2k
Lower Device Filter: imapi

Driver Name: redbook.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: Redbook Audio Filter Driver
File Version: 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2108) [5.1.2600.5512]
Product Name: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.1.2600.5512 [5.1.2600.5512]
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation

Driver Name: mxlw2k.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: MusicMatch Access Layer KMD
File Version: 1.0.1.109 [1.0.1.109]
Product Name: MusicMatch Access Layer
Product Version: 1.0.1.109 [1.0.1.109]
Company Name: MusicMatch, Inc.

Driver Name: imapi.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: IMAPI Kernel Driver
File Version: 5.1.2600.5512 (xpsp.080413-2108) [5.1.2600.5512]
Product Name: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 5.1.2600.5512 [5.1.2600.5512]
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation

I uninstalled it, didn't work


—————————————————-
Filter Driver Load Order http://www.bustrace.com
—————————————————-

Upper Class Filter: GEARAspiWDM
Device Object: HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4082N ATA Device
Lower Filter Drivers: No Lower Filter Drivers specified for this device

Driver Name: gearaspiwdm.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: CD DVD Filter
File Version: 2.00.07.03 [2.0.7.3]
Product Name: CD DVD Filter
Product Version: 2.00.07.03 [2.0.7.3]
Company Name: GEAR Software Inc.

—————————————————-
Filter Driver Load Order http://www.bustrace.com
—————————————————-

Upper Class Filter: PartMgr
Device Object: HTS421260H9AT00 ATA Device
Lower Filter Drivers: No Lower Filter Drivers specified for this device

Driver Name: partmgr.sys
File Location: c:\windows\system32\drivers
File Description: Partition Management Driver
File Version: 6.0.6000.16386 (vista_rtm.061101-2205) [6.0.6000.16386]
Product Name: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Product Version: 6.0.6000.16386 [6.0.6000.16386]
Company Name: Microsoft Corporation