Duck and Cover

I've had this problem with my DVD drive as long as I've had it and maybe now is the time I get it solved.


Random games don't run on my dvd drive. I don't know why. Asus DVD-ROM E616, according to teh hardware profile. Occasionall it'll show up in my computer as a CDRom. I, again, don't know why. But yeah. It'll run some DVD games just fine, and on others it'll just spin and spin and spin and hten after five minutes stop and not read it as having a disc in the drive.

I could just buy a new DVD drive, which I tried to do, but I can't find anything nearby that sells a SATA one, which is what I want, so I want to put off buying a new one until I buy a new PC. Any suggestions, anyone?


ZOMF I CANT PLAY STOLKAR

Okies, well the spinning issue means that the drive can't read the data properly. Usually it's caused by scratchy CD's, but it can also be caused by a bung laser, or an asian DVD drive.

Other than that, it could technically be a firmware problem(Though it never is, *phaugh*)

Try going to the Asus site and downloading new firmware, make sure to follow the instructions carefully.

Other things you could do is get some air-in-a-can (Compressed inert gas of some sort) and give the drive a careful blow out, just in case there's something interfering with the lay-zer. You could also try a fresh install of windows, as for some reason this fixes drive problems(And most others :rolleyes:).

Finally, check out your IDE cables, swap 'em about, and cry when none of it works.

New IDE cables as of a few months ago. Asus firmware tried several times. I always get some error or another and can't do it in the end. Not to mention Asus themselves don't carry the firmware for my specific model, it's always third party. Air in a can I would try but I used up the rest of my last can awhile back to harass my cat or something. I forget.

So basically my dvd drive is a piece of shit. The part that gets me is that some (most?) dvdroms will still work. It's just occasional ones won't, or it will work on further attempts at ejecting and closing the disc tray. God damn asus.

I have the same problem with my LG DVDROM, it's like 3 years old, so I figured it has either something to do with Dual layer DVDs, some other stuff like mixed data/DVD video or it's just fubar, like laser a bit broken or something.
I use my DVD-RAM for all the stuff or just use DVD-images, maybe I'll replace the ROM with a HD in the future.

I recommend using a DVD-RAM for reading DVDs.
DVD-writers are also always better at reading (faulty) CDs/DVDs, same went for my old CD-RW, which never gave me any hassles.

CD and DVDROM drives often seem to give up their ghost after a while it seems

Nyeah, it's cause the ROMs come with the minimum strength laser for the job. Can't exactly have a weak laser for burning, so burners are inherently better at everything.

Splatterpope wrote:Nyeah, it's cause the ROMs come with the minimum strength laser for the job. Can't exactly have a weak laser for burning, so burners are inherently better at everything.

Thanks for the info, I only knew that writers are superior which is coherent with my experience

All you who have trouble with your DVD drives, YOU FUCKING DESERVED IT!

jetbaby wrote:I can't find anything nearby that sells a SATA one, which is what I want

why do you want it?
i mean, its not like it'll make your dvd drive go faster or anything
it could also be a southbridge problem but that sounds unlikely considering most of your dvd's work. shruggelz.

How old is it?

Some of them, well, just like to fuck up and that's it.

The more complicated the faster they break of course :russiantech:

I know my friends drive completely stopped working because he had so much spyware on his computer, but I doubt that is your problem. Just buy a new drive they are like $15, and sata won't make your drive go faster like Gimpmask said.

Maybe you should also stop using your drive as a cupholder or if you didn't you can now use it as one

Gimp Mask wrote:

jetbaby wrote:I can't find anything nearby that sells a SATA one, which is what I want

why do you want it?
i mean, its not like it'll make your dvd drive go faster or anything
it could also be a southbridge problem but that sounds unlikely considering most of your dvd's work. shruggelz.

Because SATA is teh futuar. I know it's not going to go fast, but I love the SATA cables. IDE is so bulky compared to SATA. I looked around for a SATA DVDRW/CDRW but no one had one on hand a store. Jews.

It's roughly three, hah. I'd say right about there. Maybe four at the most.

I know another reason. I have an IDE drive and it's been fucking me from the start, no real hardware issue but rather something in the communication with the computer. It's stuck in PIO mode and therefore will not do DMA, which in turn means it uses something like 100% CPU power when reading or writing as well as doing it extremely slow. There is a standard solution to this problem and as that seems to work for everyone, none other are available, but it doesn't work for me. While I'm not really sure it's quite probable this isn't even a possible issue on a SATA interface. It could even be that your problem is IDE related. So in short, I wouldn't even settle for anything else if I were you. And if there are SATA drives here then there must be wherever you live. :leistung für endsieg:

That's where updating the firmware stops. Something about PIO and DMA transition or something. I forget. I stopped trying it ages ago because it's the same problem every time.

jetbaby wrote:Because SATA is teh futuar. I know it's not going to go fast, but I love the SATA cables.

Ok. I just thought it would be fairly convenient to just buy an IDE drive instead, if SATA drives aren't available

jetbaby wrote:That's where updating the firmware stops. Something about PIO and DMA transition or something. I forget. I stopped trying it ages ago because it's the same problem every time.

Say, does you computer get reeeaaally slow when it's doing the spinning thing?

A new dvd dual layer burner costs less than half a new game.. well at least here it does =/

Splatterpope wrote:Say, does you computer get reeeaaally slow when it's doing the spinning thing?

Not REALLY slow, but definite slowdown, since any open folders, my computer, etc. kind of just lock up for a bit. But everything else can generally move along.

get a BLURAY

Fuck bluray. Why do I want to pay 30+ bucks for a bluray movie.