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Samsung CD drive that reads little and does not read a lot
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Hi,
My Dell Dimension 8400 is 4-plus years old with Windows XP. It has Samsung CD-R/RW SW252S CD-ROM drive that has been giving me problems. Briefly, here is what it will and will not do: It--
- will read the Dell Installation Disc, and a Corel Draw CD
- will not play audio, read CD data discs, or my photos on a CD. The message I get with these is: “D:\ not accessible. Incorrect function”. The CD data and photo discs were originally formatted with this drive.
- will not format CDs
Some of the my attempts to repair are:
- Reinstall the driver recommended by Dell Tech, and obtained from http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/xp_cd_dvd_fix.vbs. This was done both before and after uninstalling. Dell does not have a driver listed for this Samsung CD-R/RW SW252S.
- Control Panel access to Device Driver indicates “This device is working properly.” (though I know it is not). I have tried driver update (from within the Control Panel): The message here is that there is none better than what is installed.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should try next? Your help is appreciated. Thanks.
osprey4
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November 16th, 2008 03:00
Maaruthi
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November 16th, 2008 04:00
Hi there,
You can try updating the Firmware of the Drive. Visit www.support.dell.com and then click on Drivers and Downloads, enter Service Tag of the system. Once you go to Downloads page see for CD/DVD Drive in the list and search for "Samsung CD-R/RW SW252S CD-ROM" and if matches with the list. Download the firmware on Desktop and update the firmware and restart the system.
Try checking if the drive works then, else the drive may need to be replaced.
Nanza
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November 17th, 2008 08:00
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Thanks very much for the suggestion about the CD lens, osprey4. I do not consider myself an expert at this sort of thing, but I’ll work on it and try to get back when I’ve gotten my way through this. It could be awhile.
Nanza
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November 17th, 2008 08:00
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I appreciate your directing me to the Dell Firmware Drivers and Downloads, Maaruthi. I did check that early on and they do not list an update for the Samsung CD-R/RW SW252S CD-ROM drive. That was the reason for contacting Dell Support, who suggested downloading “xp_cd_dv_fix.” After installation, I would say it performed no better than before installation, though with a different set of problems than I described earlier.
Nanza
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December 10th, 2008 12:00
osprey4
Re: Samsung CD drive that reads little and does not read a lot
It has taken awhile, but the bottom line is that the situation on my Samsung CD drive has not changed. First, on some investigation, it was recommended that the drive be removed and the lens cleaned manually. I did remove the drive, but as far as I can tell, the lens is not easily accessible. I then purchased an “Allsop Lens Cleaner” and put it through its paces. The drive still reads some and will not read other CDs it did before. Unless there are other steps that can be suggested, it appears the next one is to replace the drive as you mentioned.
Perhaps this would be an appropriate time to mention that I also have a Philips DVD drive (Philips DVD8601 DVD+RW Drive) on the same computer. It works better, but also will not read some of the same CDs that the Samsung CD drive has problems with. Also, it has decided not to format new or reformat old discs. I have installed the upgrade software for this drive recommended by Dell with some improvement, but it still has some of the above problems. I have also used a DVD lens cleaner on it with marginal improvement.
The fact that both drives have similar (but not exactly the same problems) lead me to expand my thinking. Could the problem be elsewhere in the computer?
Thanks for any help or suggestion.