cd drive

To sum up Max,
1. The discs are fine since they are perfectly funtional elsewhere.
2. The Laptop will play the disc if you use the external drive so it is not a codec or other software issue.
3. The optical drive on the laptop functions fine except for discs that you have written.

This may have been covered already, but what happens if you burn a disk using the external drive, make sure it plays using that drive and then you put it in the built in laptop drive?

Everything is pointing toward a faulty drive or (as I know was mentioned before) faulty firmware. Fortunately, if it comes to it DVD/CD drives, unlike some laptop hardware, are relatively easy to replace.

 

YES the disc burnt on the external drive plays on the external drive but when i put the same disc in the laptop combi drive it says it is empty this only applys to music cds dvds play fine commercial cds play fine mp3 dvds read ok but now music mp3 cds have stopped reading they too are now saying disc is empty this is yet another problem i think it is on its last legs maybe its time for a new drive i have found a service engineer who will do the job for me i would have liked to have resolved it without the cost he has told me its easier to change the drive than solve the problem but he would say that
thanks anyway it will have to wait a few months got holidays to pay for first
musicmax

 

What software are you using to burn and what software are you using to play the music?

 

USING NERO also windows media player to burn .... burns fine
external cd writer reads disc plays fine in media player also plays in media monkey and plays in nero plays in hifi
laptop combi cd drive burns in nero and windows media player
only reads dvds reads data cds but when it comes to audio it tells me the disc is empty put it back in external cd writer and my hifi and low and behold as if by magic the music is there if you can help please read the thread its not firmware or drivers all software is up to date
musicmax

 

Sorry Max, Seeing you here reminded me.

Some older drives (much older than yours) would only read commercial CDs because the ones you burn were insufficiently reflective for the laser to read them.

I suspect that your laser is failing and that is what is causing you to only be able to read the commercial disks. That doesn't change much but it does account for the "why" of it all. There is no other way to account for the inability of this one drive to read and play what the machine is otherwise capable of handling.

My guess is that it is just a matter of time before the laser goes completely and it will not read anything.

 

THANKS i have now come to terms with the fact the drive is on its way out still have the external writer so its not causing me any immediate problems thankyou for your input its been very helpfull i have been reading some of the other posts in other forums its a shame some of the comments arnt as constructive as yours thanks again
musicmax

 

Thank you Musicmax. We have a lot of experience with some other methods of communication and in some instances there are people who just want to prove how smart they are. I think you will find a lot of that on the newsgroups. I know that is a broad brush and I don't want to paint everyone with it.

What we try to do here is simply figure out the best way to solve a problem and make sure it is adequately explained.

Unfortunately failing hardware can't be fixed on the internet. Hopefully, you will at least feel that when you do go out and get a new drive that it was necessary and understand why.

That is the best we can do for you I'm afraid.