The BD DVD on my Inspiron r17 (PLDS dvdrwbd DS-6E2SH) won't see dvd's

Hi Dyetube,

Please go to my troubleshooting guide (link below) and follow the instructions to run the Dell diagnostics on your drive. Please let me know if the test passes or fails. When you post back, would you please provide the model of your Dell and operating system?

I'm running a dell inspiron 17r (5720) with windows 10.  Booted to F12 diagnostics (on my laptop when you select boot to diagnostics, it runs them all.  You can't just choose the dvd) and got no errors.  Can't run fixit as it isn't compatible with windows 10.  Any suggestions?

I went to support.dell.com and checked for driver updates (which there was a sata update).  Did the updates but didn't fix the issue.  Also, drive responds to my windows eject request so I know it's somewhat working.  I'm thinking it's a possible hardware failure but want to exhaust all options first.

Hi Dyetube,

     Yes you are correct. But generally optical drive failure is very rare occurrence. I have also faced such issues but finally it will be a optical media issue. I suggest, better you can try with other media's such as CD,DVD etc & land to a conclusion.

     I went through the spec of that optical drive. Its a Blue ray combo. It can only read Blue ray disks & cannot write it. Hope you aware. 

thanks

I know it doesn't write Blu-Ray.  I have tried multiple dvd's, cd's and data disks with no success of them being read.  Haven't tried any blu-rays recently though.  Whenever I stick media in the drive it  spins and the green led lights up but nothing happens and it just stops after a few seconds.  I can issue a windows command (right click, eject) and it will eject the media but I can't open the media no matter what I do which is what leads me to believe there's a hardware failure somewhere.  If it's not hardware failure, at least ONE of the cd's/dvd's, etc should have worked and none of them have.  I even tried removing the drivers and letting windows re-install them and that didn't work either.

Did you run the diagnostics with a disc in the drive? Sounds like your drive may have failed.

Yes, there was media in the drive.  I just did it again and this time stopped the test and did just the cd/dvd drive extended test and it said everything was fine.

Mine has had the same exact issue for months (out of extended warranty of course) and I just haven't been able to switch out the drive... Came on here today to see if anything had been updated as I've noticed that there are MANY MANY owners of this particular drive that are complaining also!

Obviously, there is something wrong with this drive and am wondering if anyone else has contacted Dell to find out if they're going to do something/anything about it?

I'm also wondering if anyone HAS been able to fix this drive??

Hi Dyetube,

If it is ONLY DVD discs that you cannot read, I suspect a lens failure. But you said you're running the test with a DVD in the drive, which makes me believe it's not a hardware failure. So I'm a bit confused as to what the problem might be.

Can you insert a DVD and view the list of files on that disc in safe mode?

I cannot read anything including dvd's, cd's data disks, etc...  Haven't tried any blu-ray's as I don't have any right now.  I'm thinking you're probably right about the lens messing up though.

I have a Dell XPS15, Windows 10 with this same DVD drive. No problems until today when suddenly I cannot play a Blu Ray DVD. Had been viewing this same DVD two days ago. The drive will recognize and play audio CDs and regular movie DVDs - just not Blu Ray. I tested the disk in question in our Panasonic Blu Ray player and there is nothing wrong with the disk. I tried other Blu Ray DVDs, but they would not mount either. When a Blu Ray is inserted, no drive letter appears but it does appear for an audio CD or regular DVD. I use Cyberling PowerDVD to play movies. Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi pjmleonard,

With a blu ray disc in the drive, open file explorer and tell me if you can view the disc contents.

No, I cannot see the disk let alone access the contents. With a Blu Ray the drive (D) does not show at all in File Explorer. With an audio CD or regular DVD however, the drive (D) does show.

I think your drive needs to be replaced. This is a hardware failure.

Thanks for your reply. I had been coming to the same conclusion myself. So long as the audio CDs and regular DVDs continue to play, I will just leave things as they are. When they fail, as I suppose they eventually will,  I'll consider my options then. The laptop is working perfectly well in all other respects (apart from the fact that I upgraded to Win.10 and wish I hadn't !!!)