CD RW problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter owkmann
  • Start date Start date
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owkmann

I have a Dell Inspiron 1100 with a combo CD-RW/DVD drive. The drive can read
DVD's but cannot read or write to CD's!

Have I messed something up?

WindowsXP shows no driver or hardware problems in Device Manager.

Thank you for any help on this.

Steve
 
There are two lasers in the optical drive, one for the DVD side and one for
the CD side. Sounds as if the CD laser may have failed. Try a standard CD
cleaning kit first.
 
Thanks Cari!


Cari (MS-MVP) said:
There are two lasers in the optical drive, one for the DVD side and one
for the CD side. Sounds as if the CD laser may have failed. Try a
standard CD cleaning kit first.
Click to expand...
 
The CD cleaning kit didn't help. :-( Are there two separate drivers, one
for the CD and one for the DVD? Is a corrupt driver a possibility?

Steve
 
There is only ONE driver. The drive's electronics/firmware controls the
which "laser" is to be used by detecting the disk media type. This seems to
indicate that the CD laser is not working. You best bet is to consider
replacing the unit. Most DVD recorders have "dropped" in prices recently.
This would give the possibility of burning DVDs (altough not with XP native
recording tools!)
 
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