Strange Problem with CD/DVD Drive

Question

When my laptop was under warranty my DVD Drive stopped reading or writing some particular DVDs. It only used to read DVDs from some comapnies and burn only DVDs from Sony. It did not burn DVDs from any other company which are cheaper that that of Sony. The Sony ones also worked with reduced perfaormance. I got it changed and the new drive worked properly for a month before the same problem came again and now my system is out of warranty. Help me please

Skybird · Answer

Look in the Device Manager ......... Start | Control Panel | System in classic view | Hardware tab | Device Manager Click on the (+) next to DVD/CD-ROM drives.  This will reveal the Brand and Model ofdrive.  Please post that.   Also, what model computer are you using?

AdiTyA24 · Answer

Sorry, I forgot to mention I am using XPS M1210 and the DVD Drive is Sony DVD+-RW DW-Q58A ATA Device

Skybird · Answer

Sony is usually good media. As I read your post, it seems that the system
works with Sony media but you have recently experienced reduced performance.
You did not mention the other brands of media.

Check that your drive is in DMA mode and not PIO mode here .......

Start | Control Panel | System in classic view | Hardware tab | Device Manager

Click on the (+) next to IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Right-click the channel
the DVD drive is on and select Properties. Click the Advanced Settings tab.

The Transfer Mode box should be DMA if available and the below that the
Current Transfer Mode box should be Ultra DMA Mode 2

Not all DVD media is equal. You may find this article of interest ........

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

AdiTyA24 · Answer

DMA is enabled. The brands I tried and don't work are (initially they all used to work): Moser Baer, Eurovision, Writex

Skybird · Answer

Those brands are off-brands and consoder low quality media.
They can vary batch to batch. Review the link here .......

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

Try a high quality brand to try to identify if the problem is
the drive or the variability of the media.

AdiTyA24 · Answer

What I think is something bad happened to my drive (drivers are O.K. as my problem was solved once just by canging the Drive), Sony DVDs are still working as they are of better quality. But I just want to know what that problem might be so that it does not occur again when I purchase a new Drive

AdiTyA24 · Answer

Now the Sony media also has stopped working. It took three hours for it to erite a sony DVD and when I tried to read it 'Cyclic Redundancy CHeck error showed up. When the DVD was being written I was not even able to work on my laptop, everything went so slow, video was gtting stuck, etc.

AdiTyA24 · Answer

Last time whn you told me to check the DMA option I accidentally disabled the DMA thats why today even Sony one was not working and giving cyclic redundancy errors, I enabled DMA again it is now again in Ultra DMA mode 2 and the problem is same i.e. only Sony or other high quality media is working, I am sure this is some hardware problem as initially it used to both read and write all low quality media which are used by everyone around me and they have nver faced such a problem ( But they do not use Dell). I may have done something which caused this problem, I am just curious to know what it can be.

Thanx a lot for helping me all the way till here.

Skybird · Answer

Cyclic Redundancy CHeck error is an indication of a media problem.
In the Media Quality link, there are some utilities that will
identify exactly what the Sony media is. Not all Sony media
is high quality.

To check the drive, run the Dell Diagnostics. Have a data DVD
ready when it asks you to insert a disc.

Your earlier post said that DMA is enabled, but, is the drive in
Ultra DMA mode 2 or PIO Mode?

AdiTyA24 · Answer

Is there no one with the same problem?

honoriuc · Answer

i have ultra dma mode 5 on primary ide channel, and the secondary ide channel set on dma if available and pio mode on current transfer mode, and the device does not work properly. dell inspiron 6400 m061, firmware updated to uys3.

osprey4 · Answer

Hi honoriuc,

You really should have started your own thread rather than post separate problems in others' threads.

Anyway, the procedure for resetting your IDE channel to DMA can easily be found by searching, but one such solution is here. Let me know if that does not work.

Good luck!

Storage, Drives & Media

Strange Problem with CD/DVD Drive

Was this post helpful?