XPS 8950, ODD irregularity

Question

My 8950 XPS Win 10 ODD (optical disk drive) does not perform as it should. It has been replaced twice under Dell's warranty so I don't believe the drive itself is the problem. The performance is erratic. It can take a long time before Explorer recognizes there is a disc in the drive initially and then it can read a new disc quickly. Dell support says everything is operating properly but it is not. My other computers read the optical drive almost instantly, but this Dell machine has a problem. One other issue is that autoplay on the optical drive does not work. Autoplay works fine elsewhere.

JOcean · Answer

If the drive has been replace twice already without much of a change, have you considered replacing the SATA data cable?

kras1 · Answer

I don't think it is the drive. I replaced mine with a Bluray drive and yeah, it takes a bit sometimes. I put the old drive in my Inspiron 3650 and it works fine. I never thought about a possible cable issue.

Tesla1856 · Answer

I've found that those slim-tray drives are fragile and only for low-volume use.

I used to burn/rip a bunch of discs (CD, DVD, BD) back in the day. I found it is better to use a real name-brand 5.25-inch burner (like a LG with Burn-Proof and M-Disc ) . Since modern desktops are smaller (and optical tech is being depreciated) , I like to now install in a nice external USB-3.0 enclosure like an OWC Mercury Pro. I have that setup on my desk right now and it works fine (I have my old LG Blu-Ray burner drive installed in it).

Actually, if you just want to burn/rip CDs and DVDs (no Bluray-Discs) ... I saw an external-USB LG Burner ready to plugin and go. OWC has Mercury Pro with or without a drive installed (and affordably priced).

renwd · Answer

The external optical drives are all like the same flimsy drive I have now.

renwd · Answer

No one has suggested replacing the cable until now. What could have gone wrong with the cable?

Tesla1856 · Answer

@renwd wrote:

The external optical drives are all like the same flimsy drive I have now.

No.

What country are you in?

Do you just want a DVD Burner, or one that also Burns/Rips Blu-Rays also?

Can you afford $150 for a nice 5.25-inch external optical drive that will work for this system and any others for about 10 years?

renwd · Answer

I live in Canada. So what do you recommend? I discovered today that when this optical drive refuses to respond I can go into device manager and select it and then it wakes up.

smokeygraypoupon · Answer

I have an XPS 8950 also. I noticed my DVD optical drive gets a little wacky sometimes. Autoplay did not work for the optical drive. I found that Dell Cyberlink Suite of apps on my machine was the default software for the optical drive. When the CyberLink software was uninstalled, the optical drive behaved as I expected. This may or may not help your situation, but I thought I would mention it.

renwd · Answer

Interesting. I don't have Dell Cyberlink Suite on my machine. The drivers for my optical drive are all windows.

smokeygraypoupon · Answer

I only have the C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys driver. If your machine doesn't have the Cyberlink software, then my observation is moot. Try a different cable??? It is certainly frustrating.

renwd · Answer

On a fresh boot the optical drive responds in under 1 minute. I take the disc out and put it back in and it takes roughly 5 minutes before File Explorer sees it and Autoplay shows. What a mystery.

renwd · Answer

Like I said before. When I put a disc into the optical drive and it doesn't respond, I go device manager and click on the optical drive and it responds immediately in file explorer and autoplay. It's got to be a software issue IMO.

RoHe · Answer

Power settings issues?

Open Device Manager and double-click the CD/DVD drive entry. If it has a Power Management tab (it may not), click the tab and uncheck the box "Allow PC to turn off...".

Exit DM and navigate to the Win 10 Advanced Settings screen for your active Power plan. On that screen, disable Hibernation, Hybrid Sleep, USB Selective Suspend and PCI-e Link State Management. Save the changes and reboot.

See if that helps...

renwd · Answer

No power management tab. No advanced settings screen for the power plan.

XPS Desktops

XPS 8950, ODD irregularity

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