cd / dvd question

The drive has two lasers: one for CDs and one for DVDs.  One can
fail while the other may still function.  You can test your drive
with the Dell Diagnostics by booting your system with the Dell
Drivers and Utility disc.  In the Diagnostics, run the Custom test
on the drive and have a data DVD (not movie DVD) available for the
test.

Most likely you will find it has failed. 

Might be a silly question (if so my apologies), but as you don't give your optical drive model, I thought worth asking: are you sure it is supposed to read DVDs and is not just a CD drive?

Yeah, it's a pioneer dvd rw  dvr 112d .It shows up under device manager as working properly.Just totally ignores dvd's. 

What are the results of the Dell Diagnostics?

I don't have a blank dvd right now to test it.I suppose there is no other way to test it?

You need to use a data DVD, that is a DVD with data on it, but not a movie.
Generally, an install DVD, such as a Windows install DVD disc will wotk.

If it fails to read a data DVD (it may if the laser is out), run the test
again with a data CD to verify the general drive condition.

OK, it reads the original windows xp sp2 disc, and gives a few options.It reads the modem helper disc. It reads the resource/ applications disc, The drivers and utilities disc asks about dialing options. which I don't know, since I haven't used the dial up modem for a  few years.  Do I have to get past the screen that asks for dialing info to get to the drive test? Thanks........

Did you boot your system with the Drivers and Utilities disc
to get access to the Diagnostics?  Diagnostics may be on the
Resources disc, so you may have to boot with that.  Is your
Windows XP SP2 disc a DVD?

M'kay, I booted with diagnostics disc,did IDE drive diagnostics, primary drive (hard drive) passed, secondary IDE lists my Pioneer dvd rw , but says diagnostics not supported.Before that, I tried to boot to diagnostics disc, only gave choice to press f1 to retry boot.No idea if windows disc is dvd or regular disc.It is light purple in color,says re installation disc. Thanks for your help.   

Run the Custom Test of the Diagnostics.  Select the CD drive (not the IDE
channel) under that.  Insert a data DVD (not a movie DVD) into the drive
for the read test.

AAAARG! i don't know how to get that choice.Under boot device menu, I have  normal, hard drive, ide cd rom device, system setup, drive diagnostics, boot to utility partition.If I choose any of these options, there is no custom test option.The bios section has no test option. WEhat am I doing wrong?

In the Boot Menu, choose the Utility Partition, it should go to the Diagnostics.
One the the choices should be Custom Test, from there you can choose to test any
device in your system.

Or, insert the Dell Resource CD into the drive and in the Boot Menu, choose CD drive
and the system will boot from the dell Resource CD.  One the the choices will be Custom
Test, from there you can choose to test any device in your system.

Hi , if I go to utility prtion, the computer  just starts. I f I put the Applications cd in, it lets me boot to it, then has a couple tests, then gives 6 options. graphics diagnostics, 32 bit dell diagnostics, etc.  When i hit 32 bit dell diag nostics, it says press any button to continue twice, then goes back to the menu with the 6 options .Wha is that?    Thanks again........

It sounds like your utility partition is gone. And unfortunately, I'm pretty sure the 2400 is not USB bootable or you could run the diagnostics from a flash drive.

There are other ways to test the drive's ability to read a DVD. You could try reading a data DVD in safe mode or DOS (by booting to a command prompt). Or you could use DVD identifier with a blank DVD in the drive.