Weird problem with my new DVD drive

[NoNameMcgee]

I recently bought a new PC, which I didn't build myself, so i'm not sure exactly what drive I have in there; but its listed as a Samsung Dual Layer 20x DVD Burner, and the label says its a DVD-RAM drive. Using Windows XP, and my PC is pretty high-end.

Seemed to be working fine at first, and I dont have any major complaints. One issue: every now and then it completely stops working and I have to wait a while before it starts recognising disks again. At first I thought it was due to disk errors, as I have a large pile of disks in which about a quarter of them are scratched to hell and full of CRC errors; and the first few times it happened it was directly after finding errors while copying files from the disks. However, its begun to happen while copying data from disks which I know work 100%, so it seems to be random. The last few times, I was copying files and it simply came up with a message saying the disk is not inserted anymore (they were) and then after ejecting, changing disk and trying again absolutely nothing happens. It wont recognise any disks. Stays that way for a while even through restarting several times, and then just starts working again after 30 mins or so. It's just bizarre.

When this happens, the drive is still recognised in My Computer, and if I right click on the drive and click Eject it ejects the drive instantly, so i'm assuming its not some kind of wiring problem inside or it would stop working completely. However, if I try to insert a disk, it doesn't recognise that any disk has been inserted, and if I try to select the drive to browse, it crashes explorer.

Any ideas peeps??

 

[Zacharine]

I'm thinking theres some problems with the reading function of the drive instead of any software problems. Doesn't sound like the cables are wonky since information sometimes is transferred properly.

Possibly some faulty component of another that got past the screening process. Contact the manufacturer or retailer, warranty should cover that.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

yeah seems like the drive is fried, i'm going to suggest you try and burn a disc and see what happens when you do that

as for it showing up as a dvd-ram drive that's normal, that's how mine shows up in windows

 

[NoNameMcgee]

It seems to be a problem with reading DVDs. It happened again this morning (still got a tonne of crap I want to copy from disks onto my harddrive) and I found afterward it read CD's perfectly, but any DVDs it wont read for a certain ammount of time.

I'm not convinced it's a hardware problem because it only stops reading DVDs for a little while, and then works again, almost like something is blocking it. And it doesn't make sense to me why it wont read DVDs but can read CDs fine. But i'm no expert!

I'd rather try to fix the problem myself though, rather than take it back and get a replacement that might not work either because it turns out to be some software issue. But if you guys are certain its the drive itself i'll take it back. More thoughts on the issue are welcomed.

yeah seems like the drive is fried, i'm going to suggest you try and burn a disc and see what happens when you do that

Disks burn absolutely fine usually, but if I try to burn onto a DVD while it goes through the stages of not working anymore, the program I use to burn disks crashes. Then when it starts recognising DVDs again it works fine.

 

[cleverlymadeup]

It seems to be a problem with reading DVDs. It happened again this morning (still got a tonne of crap I want to copy from disks onto my harddrive) and I found afterward it read CD's perfectly, but any DVDs it wont read for a certain ammount of time.

I'm not convinced it's a hardware problem because it only stops reading DVDs for a little while, and then works again, almost like something is blocking it. And it doesn't make sense to me why it wont read DVDs but can read CDs fine. But i'm no expert!

I'd rather try to fix the problem myself though, rather than take it back and get a replacement that might not work either because it turns out to be some software issue. But if you guys are certain its the drive itself i'll take it back. More thoughts on the issue are welcomed.

yeah seems like the drive is fried, i'm going to suggest you try and burn a disc and see what happens when you do that

Disks burn absolutely fine usually, but if I try to burn onto a DVD while it goes through the stages of not working anymore, the program I use to burn disks crashes. Then when it starts recognising DVDs again it works fine.

actually it does seem like something is messed up in the drive, i had one that worked in a similar way, it would burn some discs fine, make a bunch of coasters

i think there is something out of whack and it will go in and out. i think something is wrong with it