Hey, I'm Joe. Anyway, my laptop's DVD/CD drive is acting up. It's a PHILIPS DVD+-RW SDVD8820 and my computer is a Gateway MX6960 Notebook that's less than a year old and is still under warranty. When I put a blank DVD into the drive, my laptop recognizes it as a CD for some reason. As a result, I can't write out DVD's like I used to. I can play DVD's.
Does anyone have any suggestions how I can fix this? I am going to contact Gateway, but I figured I'd ask here too. I yahoo-ed the drive and there were negative comments about it. Is it possible to get a new internal DVD drive for a laptop to replace my current one. Thanks.
You didnt install any new software did you? Things like dvd burners, media players, ect?
If not I would just get it replaced.
I made burned a DVD a few weeks ago, and the only new software I installed was Winamp, RocketDock, Unlocker, and IconTweaker. I wonder if Winamp is to blame? I hope not...
Nah I doubt any of that would mess with your drive.
Its probably just dying.(which is sad if the pc is less then a year old.) I would just call gateway and have them fix it.
Darn cheap hardware that's sold for hundreds of dollars!! It truly is sad . I hope I won't have to mail my laptop out for 6-8 weeks, 'cause that would flat out suck big time! Oh, well. Thanks for your help though, rridgely.
CD/DVD drives seem to poop out sooner nowadays versus what they did a decade ago, but then again I suppose there's allot more demand on a drive and the usage is up like ripping movies and audio CDs.
I'm about to have to replace my Plextor PX-760A, and I'm actually glad it's starting to die because it was nothing but a b.s. over-hyped drive that cost 66% more than it's competitors.
hi, i know this might sound obvious or not that important but make sure you update your dvd's firmware if its avaible. I found this hard to believe but i bought my toshiba laptop and it got cracking noise at some point while playing music. I could never thought it would turned out to be the firmware problem until i check with my toshiba driver update website. yeah, thought i have to return it to repair or something. The update's description was the exact problem i was having.The problem fixed right after the update.
CD/DVD drives seem to poop out sooner nowadays versus what they did a decade ago, but then again I suppose there's allot more demand on a drive and the usage is up like ripping movies and audio CDs.
I'm about to have to replace my Plextor PX-760A, and I'm actually glad it's starting to die because it was nothing but a b.s. over-hyped drive that cost 66% more than it's competitors.
Actually, after looking a bit more into the problem, I found the CD/DVD drive is probably not faulty! I plugged in an external lightscribe drive that had no problem working on my dad's computer, but had the same problem as my internal CD/DVD drive. So, maybe it's drivers, but my sister has the same laptop hardware wise (it's CD/DVD drive works) and we both have the same drivers with the exception of c:\windows\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys (I have that file, she does not). I'm not really sure were I got that file, though...
hi, i know this might sound obvious or not that important but make sure you update your dvd's firmware if its avaible. I found this hard to believe but i bought my toshiba laptop and it got cracking noise at some point while playing music. I could never thought it would turned out to be the firmware problem until i check with my toshiba driver update website. yeah, thought i have to return it to repair or something. The update's description was the exact problem i was having.The problem fixed right after the update.
I've been trying to find the location of my drive's firmware update site, but I haven't been able to find it. I'll look some more...
Thank-you to everyone who has replied, you've all been a big help!
I tried two firmware different updates, both did not have any effect on the problem. I'm considering reinstalling the OS, because I plugged in an external lightscribe drive that had no problem working on my dad's computer, but on my computer had the same problem as my internal CD/DVD drive, so the problem doesn't seem to be the drive...
Actually, after looking a bit more into the problem, I found the CD/DVD drive is probably not faulty! I plugged in an external lightscribe drive that had no problem working on my dad's computer, but had the same problem as my internal CD/DVD drive. So, maybe it's drivers, but my sister has the same laptop hardware wise (it's CD/DVD drive works) and we both have the same drivers with the exception of c:\windows\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys (I have that file, she does not). I'm not really sure were I got that file, though...
I've been trying to find the location of my drive's firmware update site, but I haven't been able to find it. I'll look some more...
Thank-you to everyone who has replied, you've all been a big help!
Philips must have one of the most user-unfriendly sites when it comes to finding what you want...
Philips have a small program to load onto your computer that checks to see if any of its installed products have been upgraded, it's called Philips Intelligent Agent:
download it and run, it will check to see if there are any updates (drivers etc) to any of the Phlips products on your computer (my DVD drive is also a Philips model - when I ran that I found a firmware update which has made my DVD drive run better).