REALLY OT (sorry): my CD/DVD burner has died

[JasonH]

Sorry for the OT subject but I know there's lots of good kind computery people on here.

I've got loads of promo CD-Rs, and one or two of them say "Don't put this into a computer!" in big letters, and I never have done cos I don't know why not to or what's on them and that makes me scared of them.

Yesterday I put an official promo CD-R in my computer that had no warning on it (Carter USM's "You Fat Bastard", incidentally) and it refused to play. So I moved on and put another CD-R in, and it won't read that either. I then needed to burn a CD for a pub quiz that I run, and it wouldn't do that because it wouldn't recognise that I'd put a blank CD-R in the drive.

It still plays factory-pressed silver CDs. It just now refuses point blank to recognise when a CD-R is in the drive, either to read or to write to.

Any ideas anyone, pretty please?

[Ean]

What make/model is the drive?

[JasonH]

It says Writemaster on the front, is that a make? Can't see a model number without taking the whole thing to bits.

It's only about a year old and was a brand new part, if that helps!

[Ean]

Yeah, it's a Samsung.

If you go into:-

Start > Computer > [right click] CD drive > properties > Hardware Tab > Select the CD drive from the list (either double click or hit the properties button).

You should end up with a box like this:-



The top line next to the icon is the model number.

[JasonH]

It says TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552B.

Thanks mate...

[Ean]

Does it recognise a disc if you look at it in: Start > Computer?

What software are you using to burn with?

[JasonH]

Ooh that's interesting. Yes if I go through "My Computer" then, after lots of thinking time, it decided to read a CD-R, and I even managed to rip from it (through WIndows Media Player). Then out of interest, I took the CD-R out, closed down Media Player and put the CD-R back in, and once again it did nothing at all - whereas pre-problem it would have automatically fired up Media Player, which it still does with a silver CD.

I'm trying to burn with Nero but it doesn't recognise that I've put a CD-R in the drive.

[Ean]

Hmmm, there are a couple of things you could try.

If you've got the original disc, you could try uninstalling then re-installing Nero, although if WMP doesn't recognise discs either, this is unlikely to be the problem.

You can try updating the driver for the device.

Go back into this box...



...and click on the Driver tab. Then click on Update Driver and it should go and look to see if there's newer version than the one you have - If you're using Vista, you'll probably have to hit the Change Settings button on the General tab before it'll let you change anything.

Or you can go here and download it directly. The Driver tab will tell you which driver version you have, then just pick one that's newer - The newest version is TS10 according to Samsung, although I've heard TS12 mentioned elsewhere.

Unfortunately, if neither of these work (and if it's only a year old, chances are you've got the newest drivers already), you might have the same problem that I came across whilst looking it up the other night, namely that it's a hardware fault, possibly to do with dirty lenses.

You could try getting in touch with Samsung's Online Repair Service and see if they can help you out? If it's only a year old, it might still be within the warranty period, so they'll probably replace it for you if it's knackered.

[JasonH]

I don't have the original disks, the PC was put together for me by the standard bloke-down-the-pub.

Update Driver said it couldn't find a more recent one. The Driver tab says I have version 5.1.2535.0 so I'm not sure what you mean by TS10...

Bloke-down-pub helpfully suggested that I go down PC World and buy a replacement drive for about £25 as it'll be cheaper than him trying to fix it. But if it's been damaged by something nasty lurking on a CD-R then would it be the drive that's broken or something somewhere stopping it working as an evil punishment? (that's a technical term btw )

Alternatively I could try sticking a cleaning disk in, if only I could find it...!

cheers.

[Ean]

Ah, sorry, I misread the Samsung site. TS10 is the filename of the latest firmware update, not the driver (MS provided that) - you can try updating that too.

Go to the Samsung site and download the Zip file called TS10 (save it to your desktop for convenience).

Unzip the file (again to desktop), open the 'How To Upgrade...' text file, and follow the instructions. It seems pretty easy, although as I don't have a Samsung drive I can't open the file.

Otherwise, Bloke-down-pub is probably right - Drives are pretty cheap these days (25 quid's a bit steep actually).

Chances are it's nothing to do with the discs themselves, I think they just say that to scare you out of ripping the tracks and distributing them before the actual product is released. There's a chance too that the discs aren't finalised properly so you could write over the tracks if you're not careful. They'd be in for some serious litigation if they put something on a CD that could permanently damage someone's computer system.

[JasonH]

Tried the download, it all appeared to have gone succesfully but alas has not fixed the problem - in fact it now gets confused by silver CDs but manages to read them with a little coaxing. CD-Rs though, still not recognising them.

Guess it's time for a trip to PC World then!

Thanks for your help Ean, if you're at Shepherds Bush I owe you a pint. Cheers.

[Ean]

You could always try one of the older firmwares on the list if it'll let you roll back?

Oh yeah, and if you can find your cleaner disc, it's always worth a try. I don't know that it'll make much difference but you never know.

That's most generous of you sir, I shall indeed be at Shepherds Bush.

[nig1012]

Ean your not being very helpful the least you could do is go down to jase's house and sort it out for him!............. jeez