My CD/DVD Drive .... TSST Corp DVD+-RW TS-H653G

Hi Daveg14,

Please follow the link below for the old upper and lower filter trick. That should work.

What you downloaded was not a driver but firmware for the drive.

Well Mr Osprey4 (great name!), I've got my drive back many many thanks;  I do have another issue though; one that I haven't seen before; The drive seems fine reading data disks, such as my resource disks that came with the PC; however, if I try to play an audio cd it won't play anything with Windows Media Player, but it will play with Realplayer, except for it tells me first of all there is no disk, please insert; and then comes up with a warning box, and then starts to play the cd??? Very strange.

I have taken a screenshot (below), showing the warning box, and at this point the music is playing;

Any ideas?

I think all you need to do is set the autoplay settings for audio CDs.

Ok, I set it up (autoplay) as per the link; same thing happens (did you see the screenshot?);

But before that, when I turned my PC back on, it reported a, failed to load the CD/DVD drive driver, message, on start up;

Ffunny thing is, when I checked, the CD/DVD drive (my E:\ drive), is showing as being there, and when I tried to use it, it performed exactly as per my last message; So it did load the driver.....weird?

I'm beginning to wonder whether this might be part of a wider issue; I have not been able to install quite a lot of Windows update's; I get the "update failed, reverting to previous.....", message, then a restart.

I've also had problems with the USB and Firewire ports (not recognising things like my phone, camera and most recently my digital video camcorder via the firewire port); that's how I came to install the firmware instead of the driver.....I think...........that'll teach me not try and be a smart...one!!

If this get's too much for you I'll understand, it's driving me nuts!!

But thanks for your help so far, If you need more info just ask; and any further suggestions will be most welcome........

Dave,

No, I can't see your image. Did you use the insert media button to add your picture?

Ah, no I didn't, I pasted it into the reply, but although I could see it before I sent it, I couldn't see it in the copy I got back;

I have now added it with "Insert media", but I still can't see it?? If you can, does it give you any clues? 

[View:~/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3534/cdshot2.doc:550:0]

So you see that error message but the disc still plays?

Yep, but only with Realplayer, not with Windows Media Player, for  some
reason; And I can copy, rip etc too................strange...

So even after changing the autoplay option to play audio discs with WMP, it still only plays with RealPlayer? Honestly, I think I would uninstall RealPlayer.

[View:~/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3534/6278.cd-shot-autoplay.doc:550:0]Ok, but before I do, take a look at the autoplay settings, attached; these are ok aren't they?

Ok, I uninstalled Realplayer, and still WMP would not play the cd; I can play it with iTunes (autoplay changed), though I still get a warning about no CD, this time it's a slightly different message, but the "symptoms" are the same; see attached.............[View:~/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-discussions-components-files/3534/cd-shot-itunes.doc:550:0]

Wow, still not working as intended.

Given the other problems you're having, I'm wondering if you're up for a reinstallation of the operating system? I reinstall my XPS 8100 every year or two.

I must say I was beginning to wonder if that's where this is headed; (Mind you, the CD drive might be an issue??)

Would I have to back everything up? (I have a ton of photo's of the grandkids etc); that may sound like a dumb question, but I once reinstalled my last system, which was a XP pc, and it turned out I needn't have spent hours backing up everything, because everything was left on there and the OS was all that changed?

Anyway, the answer is yes, I'm up for getting it sorted;  I think we could go on and on trying this and that;

But as I've never done it on the Win7 platform, will it take long? Is it relatively straightforward/painless?

What do you think?

Yes, you will have to back up everything because the procedure will completely wipe the hard drive. But then you should already be making regular backups of your important files, documents, pictures, music, favorites, mail, contacts, etc. 

I've followed the guide below to reinstall manually, which is a three step process. Install the operating system. Install drivers and applications. Restore your backed up data.

You also have the option to restore the Dell factory image. This restores the OS, original drivers and applications automatically in about 20 minutes, but you still need to reinstall your added applications and restore your data.

Either way, there are a ton of Windows updates that will also end up needing to be done.