My CD drive doesnt work anymore

[Akanksha]

Ok, so I have a PCV-V1. The CD/DVD drive has stopped working for some reason.
I last remember playing a CD yesterday and I took it out of the slot this afternoon. But on re-attempting to play another Audio CD it doesnt work. Here is what I have tried to far:

1. Tried numerous different CDs/DVDs, none of them work.
2. Uninstalled and re-installed the driver. Device Manager shows that the device is working properly.
3. Tried different softwares to see if it works on one them. it doesnt.
4. Checked for driver updates on e-support. None there.

And I am running out of ideas. Any suggestions on what could have happened?
The only things I can think of is that I took the CD off whilst the computer was going on standby, I know it sounds stupid, but may be its somehow related to the fact that it couldnt shut down the device properly or something. Also I notice that when I re-start the computer, the lights on the CD-thing doesnt come on, even on POST. But I can from the computer say eject and it ejectst the CD.
I am getting frustrated, I need to try the new Kelly Clarkson album. URGH.

[Akanksha]

nope but I can get one,*calls the IT department hysterically*

[jammold]

Great. OK when you get one, here is what you can try.

Use the drive to make a special boot disk. Try BartPE PeBuilder first and make the CD/DVD using the external drive. Try booting from this CD and see if your internal CD drive is working.

If it is then it proves that a driver is at fault.

You can also try using this to reinstall your OS from the Sony DVD/CD using the external drive.

[Akanksha]

I shall give it a go. Thanks very much.

[kee-lo_]

James

I have an idea, press F8 during boot and see if DOS can see the CD?

[Akanksha]

Ok, will do that.
Called the service centre to see what they can do, a replacement drive + labour charges extra. OOOOh expensive.

BTW, can I install using the memory stick?

[kee-lo_]

Not sure.

How much did they quote you out of interest Akanksha?

[Akanksha]

They haven't yet but the labour charges are at $39.95 + replacement drive which will be $150 at the very least. So ermm..its $200 affair, although in Pounds it sounds better I suppose!

[kee-lo_]

That's a LOT cheaper than Europe Akanksha, here they'd ask for £300

[jammold]

Yeah, Sony Europe are expensive.:smileydevil:

Good idea mate, Akanksha, build yourself a Windows 98 boot disk.

CONFIG.SYS Should look like this:

DEVICE=F:\HIMEM.SYS /VERBOSE /TESTMEM:OFF
DEVICE=F:\EMM386.EXE
DEVICE=F:\OAKCDROM.SYS /D:MSCD001

AUTOEXEC.BAT Should look like this:

F:\MSCDEX.EXE /D:MSCD001

I have chosen drive F as many VAIO's use C and D for hard disks, E for the MemoryStick Pro slot, and F as the internal CD/DVD drive.

If this works then it proves that an MS-DOS driver (OAKCDROM.SYS) can probe your internal CD Drive.

The most important driver is OAKCDROM.SYS because it handles I/O requests from the drives interface (quite a fundamental driver), MSCDEX (or you can use Caldera's NWCDEX) just maps the I/O to a drive letter under DOS and provides High-Sierra (sorry for all you boffins out there, ISO 9660 format) Emulation.

[Akanksha]

But Dave I am not in Europe though and I earn in Dollars, this was my guess as to what I'd be ready to pay, I am sure it will be a lot more than that!

James, do I have to burn it on a CD? They can only give me an external CD-ROM