Inspiron E1505 Doesn't Recognize cd's anymore

Question

The other day, I was burning my photos onto CD-RW's and, after burning a couple cd's, it stopped working. I restarted the computer and now I notice that it does not burn any cd's or play any audio cd's. When I put a cd in, the light on the cd rom will blink, the cd will spin around and make noises like it is getting ready to play. However, it then stops..... the computer says that there is no cd - it gives directions to insert a cd if I 1) try to burn something, or 2) if I go to 'My Computer' and try to open the cd drive.

Another thing that might be relevant: I don't think that this was the right thing to do, but I had tried to reformat a CD-RW by using Sonic software. There was an error and the cd was not reformatted. It was after I did this that I had the problems. Any suggestions on how to get my computer to play/burn cd's again? (eta: Operating system is Windows XP Home)

Message Edited by Tracie1234 on 03-02-2008 03:55 PM

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. Run the Dell Diagnostics on the drive.  The Diagnostics may be on your systemand is accessable by pressing F12 at start-up when the blue Dell screen is showing.

Tracie1234 · Answer

Thanks for replying!  It's a SONY DVD+ RW DW-Q58A   I'll try diagnostics now..

Tracie1234 · Answer

After running diagnostics:   Error code: 0147 Error message: 2000-0147   Msg: Unit 2: Optical drive BIST --OP4 test failed         Message Edited by Tracie1234 on 03-02-2008 06:33 PM

Skybird · Answer

It appears your drive has failed and will need to be replaced.An error code during the Diagnostics is usually an indicatorof a drive failure.

Tracie1234 · Answer

Thank you, skybird. I contacted Dell Customer Service after reading your message and they came to the same conclusion and are sending me a new cd drive...sadly, it took 2+ hours of trying things and re-running the diagnostics until this conclusion was came to. But still I am grateful for getting a new cd drive. Message Edited by Tracie1234 on 03-02-2008 09:47 PM

kevinjmaz · Answer

Are there any 'How To's' on replacing this drive.  I have one doing the same.  I work on PCs all the time but a little weak on laptops.

kevinjmaz · Answer

Thanks!!!

Skybird · Answer

For this model E1505 system ..............

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/opdrive.htm#wp999869

Other system manuals are here .............

http://support.dell.com/support/systemsinfo/documentation.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~subcat=86&~cat=12

Tracie1234 · Answer

I have put in the new cd drive and it is not working. It does appear in My Computer and Device Manager.... it is a HL-DT-ST DVD+ -RW GSA-T21N

I ran diagnostics and the optical device system self test was fine. (Now, in terms of running diagnostics, there seem to be two stages - there is a quick scan that scans the drives and just takes a few minutes....and then it gives more options to scan the rest and that takes about an hour - I only did the first quicker part of the test, so maybe I need to do the long scan?)

Well, here are more specifics about the problem: I put a music cd in to play. The mouse icon becomes a cd and it brings up Musicmatch Jukebox, like it should. When I choose the option to play the cd, it says "No Device" and "Insert an audio cd"......well, if I go to "My Computer" and right click on the cd drive and go to "Explore," it does list the audio tracks (not by name, but by Track 1, Track 2, etc)....but they will not play.

Any ideas what to do next?

Message Edited by Tracie1234 on 03-07-2008 05:13 PM

Skybird · Answer

In the Diagnostics, you can choose just for the optical drive.
The long tests it is referring to is for the hard drive.

Can you play a CD in another application other than Musicmatch?
Have you tried Windows Media Player for example?

Tracie1234 · Answer

Actually, yes Windows Media will play it!  So the new drive does work; I will have to make sure it plays dvds, burns, etc - but I think it should.  Thanks for all your help, Skybird!

Skybird · Answer

Sounds like a Musicmatch problem.

Storage, Drives & Media

Inspiron E1505 Doesn't Recognize cd's anymore

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