Odds on

The cd drive on my laptop doesn't seem to be working. I've tried several different disc's in it. I can hear it spin up briefly, but nothing shows up on the My Computer window.

I've checked it's enabled in the device manager, but am getting this message -

"Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device. (Code 41)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device."

The trouble shooter doesn't seem to offer up anything usefull.

Any help appreciated.

TIA

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

chances are it is fubbared. Ive recently changed one on my laptop for the same reason (was less than a yr old as well). didnt bother with warranty just got a replacement and slotted it in and it works fine.

My faulty one would spin up etc but if I did explore on it it would say insert disc or something similar

To add, mine would actually read the occasional dvd (never cds though) so I think it was something to do with the laser pickup. Could always try some compressed air to see if that helps but for the cost of replacements I didnt bother trying

Odds on

Cheers jaytc. I kind of suspected that but was hoping it may be software related.

Its over a year old, so the warranty will be out by now. Where can I buy a new drive from? Its a HP Pavilion BTW.

Cheers.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

I got mine from computer hardware, components, systems and peripherals at the lowest prices from IT supplier Aria Technology as its local(ish) to me and I couldnt be bothered mail ordering but just looked and they dont appear to be doing them at present

The HP will probably have them listed on their site, but I would expect to pay a premium direct.

Tape & Cartridge Drives, Floppy Drives, Duplicators, CD & DVD Drives, Blu-Ray & HD, MicroDirect.

Microdirect have some listed, used them in the past, or you could try Scan Computers UK: Computer Hardware - All
Ebuyer - Cheap Computers, Laptops, Digital Cameras, TVs & more!

If you want something quick then im sure pc world will have them as well however again expect to pay a premium.
If you have some compressed air though it could be worth a shot, also a cotton bud dipped in some methylated spirits and wipe the laser could be worht a shot as well

Odds on

I'll give the meth's and air ago 1st. I might get lucky. Probably not though knowing my luck!

Cheers for your help.

Odds on

Ok, I tried cleaning the internal cd drive, but to no avail.

I went (stupidly) to PC World to see if they had a replacement part in the components section. They didn't, nor did Maplins, so I opted for an external cd/dvd drive from PCW.

I brought it home and plugged it in. It regonises there's a usb device, but it wont see it in the "My Computer" window.

When I troubleshot it, it tells me it has a code 19 fault.

Rung PCW up and they said, "yeah, you've got to load the driver off of the disc"

Anyone got any ideas where I can get a driver on ine? It's a Samsung device that show's in the device manager as - TSSTcorp CDDVDW SE-S204N USB Device.

PCW only other advice was to take it back, but it was the last one left, without paying £££ for blue-ray....

Thanks in advance for any help.

GC8

Delete it from Device Manager. Re start and if its still not showing or operating correctly then youll need to replace it.

Odds on

Cheers GC8. It seems that the drive is knackered then for sure.

Wish this poxy external one would work.

GC8

If the USB optical drive doesnt work either, then everything might not be as straight forward as it first seemed. Any sort of remote diagnosis is difficult, but I would have to suggest backing up everything that you dont want to lose and remastering the machine. The problem there of course, is that it if doesnt use hidden sector recovery, then youll need to use the CD/DVD ROM. In order to rule the operating system out (or in), Id suggest downloading a Windows98 (my favourite, although if youre using the NTFS file system then youll need to go to MSs site and download the WindowsXP boot disk maker) boot disk and start from that (if your machine isnt set to boot from the diskette drive first then, after turning on repeatedly press the 'F8' key until youre given a choice of boot locations). Drives 'A' & 'B' will always be diskette drives and 'C' will always be your first fixed disk (partition). The extended tools will be in a ROM drive which will be labelled after the last fixed disk (or partition of) and before the optical drives. Assuming that you have 'A' & 'B'; 'C': and 'D' as a ROM drive, then the optical drive will be drive 'E'. If it shows up here and works then you need to re-install the OS. If it shows up here but doesnt work or if it simply doesnt appear, then its FUBARd and will need replacing.

Simon

dunx

iTrader: (3)

Is it a new machine with Vista on it ?

Her indoors bought a lappy from PCWorld, anda vista up-date made the drive vanish ! Easy fix, but I didn't find out what the actualproblem was.

DunxC

Removed.

I agree with GC8, if the external USB drive doesn't work as well, it's more likely to be a software, not hardware, issue

If you've access to any original Windows CD, stick that in and reboot, see if it boots from the CD. If so you know you have a Windows/driver issue rather than a hardware issue. If you have access to another PC, or a friend/relative's machine, download something like the UBCD for Widows, or a "Live" version of something like Ubuntu, again if it boots from those, it's not a hardware issue.

Software/driver issues that affect optical drives tend to revolve around the chipset drivers that handle the disk controller. Check the laptop manufacturers support site for updated chipset/controller drivers.

Make sure you backup everything first before you start experimenting!

Odds on

Cheers guys. It's Xp that's running on the machine.

I did notice that the external drive PCW sold me is for a 2.8GHz, where as the laptop runs at 2.0GHz...

The system restore disc's are just that, disc's. I can back up all the data I need on a USB stick, but that doesn't help.

Any idea's? Cheers.

Removed.

A USB drive couldn't give a monkeys what speed processor you've got. I assume (dangerous, I know) that it is simply an external optical drive of some sort. You need to get hold of some sort of bootable cd, check the restore disks, one of them should be bootable, probably the first one. Either that or you'll need to find someone that can burn you something like Ubuntu etc, that you can to boot from or lend you a real Windows CD to try.

Odds on

My thoughts exactly regarding the USB drive. Problem is, with no drive, how do I re-install?

Ah, I think I see where your going. Is it a Bios - load from disc thing?

Removed.

Possibly, watch the screen as it first boots, see if something like "F10 Boot Menu" appears just after you switch it on, or go into setup and see if the boot device order has an option for USB drives. What make and model is it?

GC8

Does the IDE optical drive work after booting from a system diskette?