Hi PDA1564,

You said your optical drive cannot read, but obviously, it's reading the blank CD, right? Please let me know exactly what discs you can and cannot read, and also provide your operating system.

Thanks for your reply!

It cannot read the blank CD, too. I inserted the blank CD and windows says "How do you want to use this disk?" (like the first image above !)

If I chose "Like a USB flash drive" , it shows a unstopable formating dialog:

If I chose "With a CD/DVD player", it shows :

My system

Windows 7 Home Edition

Optical drive : LG Electronics HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GT30N ATA Device

Hi PDA1564,

Your computer is doing exactly what it should be doing. When you insert a blank CD, you'll be prompted to use the Windows 7 disc burning utility. Please see this article for more information.

If you would prefer not to be prompted to use the Windows 7 disc burning utility or to use a different burning program, this can be set in autoplay options.

Thank OSPREY4.

I tried to burn some pictures, but the wizard said "The disc doesnt enough free space ....", I think in fact it cannot read the disc !

Now it cannot read any disk!

I think its reading-eye has problem, right !?

Please run the Dell diagnostics on your drive. The procedure can be found in the CD/DVD FAQ (link below). Run the READ TEST with a data CD in the drive.

Hi PDA1564, Your computer is doing exactly what it should be doing. When you insert a blank CD, you'll be prompted to use the Windows 7 disc burning utility. Please see this article for more information. If you would prefer not to be prompted to use the Windows 7 disc burning utility or to use a different burning program, this can be set in autoplay options.

I have been suffering exactly the same. I read the previous messages and followed the suggestions but still not solved. My optical drive was working fine but for the last few days it can not read dvds. I tried different DVD that work in other systems don't work to my system. Sometimes it shows the dvd is blank though it is not blank, however most of the time it can not any read disc (either blank or with data). I run the DELL diagnostic test pressing F12 when system boot that showed the system is fine. In addition, I uninstalled Nero burning software and tried to boot the system with a bootable disc but failed. My OS is Windows 7 Home Edition. I need the solution badly. Please help me.

You need to test just your optical drive with a data disc in the drive. Boot to the utility partition (F12), then choose custom test. This allows you to pick just one component. Insert a data CD in the drive and perform the test. Do this again with a DVD. If you get any errors, write them down.

Thank you Mr. osprey4 for your reply. I inserted a CD/DVD and boot with utility partition where I saw 6 optoins:

1. Hard Drive

2. CD/DVD/CD - RW Drive

3. Removable Devices

4. Network

5. Diagostics

6.

and selected CD/DVD/CD - RW Drive  test from the menu where nothing appears. After waiting sometime with a black screen, it moves to windows 7 start up window and loads the OS. I see the CD as blank with 702 MB size though it was a Music CD. It means the DVD drive could not identify data into the Disc. :-(

I retried the same thing with a DVD and happened the same thing, the black screen for sometime and moved to Windows start up window. One information is that the waiting time was too long for DVD than CD. In addition, it shows there is no Disc in the optical Drive.

Also I tried Diagnostis test and got optical drive test PASS.

On correction : my OS is Windows 7 ultimate

I am eagerly waiting for the next step.

Regards,

msaadi

You didn't actually perform the test correctly. Restart the computer. As the computer boots, press when the Dell Splash Screen appears. When the Boot menu appears, highlight the Boot to Utility Partition option, or the Diagnostics option and then press to start the 32-bit Dell Diagnostics. Press the key to highlight Test System Press to continue to 32-bit Diagnostics. Pick Custom Test to test one component. Pick your DVD drive. Insert a data disc when prompted.