DVD+/-RW Problem

[Blencogo]

As a "newbie's" first post please excuse me if this is not in the right forum and format.

There seems to be a significant number of problems with DVD drives not working correctly over the last few weeks.

I can't believe I am alone with this problem and I suspect there will be a lot of "newbies" looking for help.

My VAIO PGC-K315M is only 5 months old (SP2 already installed on purchase) and suddenly the Pioneer DVR-K14 has stopped recognising any discs at all. It makes a vibrating noise as if it is trying to read the discs, spins up the disc for a couple of seconds and then stops. No warning messages at all and I can't see any files in Explorer.

315M is still under warranty but I don't want to be without it for ages if this is a software problem.

Can anyone help?

[rich912]

As has already been said this is all too common and is puzzling the hell out of many of us!
A Bios update is unlikely to solve your problem and you are wise to heed the warnings.
It looks as though you will have to go down the route of Sony support.
If and when you contact them they will ask you to carry out a system recovery using your restore disks so if you have no other option it is worth trying this now. This will re-format your C drive, so backup any data first.

[Blencogo]

Thanks Rich,

Sounds like a job for the weekend!!! I'll have to sort out what needs saving to D:\ as the optical drive is not working.

Thanks for your help - I'll let you know what happens (if I can get everything working again as I will lose my ISP and not be able to reinstall).

Keith:smileycry:

[rich912]

Good luck Keith.
Let us know how you get on.

[cmsd]

Please let me know which ASPI driver you have installed currently.

[Blencogo]

Can you please tell me where to find these for WXPHome?

[cmsd]

I would recommend you download the file aspi_ from http://www.download.com/Adaptec-ASPI-Drivers-Windows-98-Me-NT-2000-XP-/3000-2098_4-10219041.html
at first.

Unzip and click on the file "ASPICHK" and let me know what's stating.

[Blencogo]

It is saying that I do not have any of the components installed!!!

[cmsd]

Right, that's the reason why you can't use your DVD drive.

Let's make and continue with the next steps in regard to your problem:

1. download and install the file "aspichk.exe" from
ftp://ftp.adaptec.com/software_pc/aspi/aspichk.exe

Let me know again what the result says, pls - before you start proceeding with point 2.


2. downlaod the file "forceASPI v1.7" from
http://radified.com/ASPI/forceaspi.htm
Unzip this file and read the instruction.

[Blencogo]

The link in 1 "cannot find server".

Thanks for your help by the way!

[cmsd]

okay no problem.

get the file "forceASPIv1.7zip" and dowload it as said in point 2 previously and unzip

let me know if you have done so, ready for the next step