DVD drive not working, stalls at BIOS

[Cloudburst77]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501. Windows 7 OS. One day last week I tried to place a dvd in the drive to play. An error came up stating that the drive was unable to read the disc. So I tried a few other DVDs (all types) but received the same error.

So, I restart the laptop only to find that it would stall on the bios startup screen and go no further. I could not access the bios or anything.

I removed the drive and restarted the lappy. Success! It booted up. I put the drive back in (while laptop was on - not sure if this is a bad thing to do), went into Device Manager, scanned new hardware. It found the hardware and appeared fine. There are no issues here. It even ejects the dvd drive fine. But when I place a DVD or CD in there it spins up but that about it.

I purchased another dvd drive on eBay of the exact same model as the old one. But this does not work either. Same problem. I guess its possible I have received another faulty drive??

Can anyone suggest any further steps to take? To note, this just randomly happened. Working one minute, dead the next.

 

[Ubrales]

Your problem is not uncommon. Here are some things you can try: http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

 

[Cloudburst77]

Thanks Ubrales but tried the options on that site but to no avail.

Wow, I just found someone else with the exact same problem! Using the exact same dvd writer. http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/22905-BIOS-help-for-Dell-Inspiron-1501?s=95c5c42d1c0245b3d2ab7ce14a30377a
After he went through all the possible avenues to fix it, he has ended up with possibly replacing the motherboard! Hmm... not good news for me. But at least I know where I stand now. If anyone has the time to read that thread and come up with a better idea than to replace the motherboard let me know!!

 

[Ubrales]

Thanks Ubrales but tried the options on that site but to no avail.

Wow, I just found someone else with the exact same problem! Using the exact same dvd writer. http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/22905-BIOS-help-for-Dell-Inspiron-1501?s=95c5c42d1c0245b3d2ab7ce14a30377a
After he went through all the possible avenues to fix it, he has ended up with possibly replacing the motherboard! Hmm... not good news for me. But at least I know where I stand now. If anyone has the time to read that thread and come up with a better idea than to replace the motherboard let me know!!

I read the thread; 5 pages of responses; lots of good information.

This reminds me of my other desktop, which is Dell Precision WS 490. The IDE DVD does not work. Tried 2 different brand new DVDs; same situation; does not work. My solution was to ignore the IDE DVD and install a SATA DVD. Things are fine now. The IDE controller was bad on the motherboard.

 

[Cloudburst77]

Well I am going to buy a DVD writer caddy from ebay http://tinyurl.com/6zkfmmj ... hopefully this will allow me to use the drive via usb... i'll keep you updated!

 

[Ubrales]

Well I am going to buy a DVD writer caddy from ebay http://tinyurl.com/6zkfmmj ... hopefully this will allow me to use the drive via usb... i'll keep you updated!

Yes, this will work, but may be a little slower than an internally SATA connected drive.

 

[Cloudburst77]

Best answer selected by Cloudburst77.

 

[Ubrales]

Thank you Cloudburst77! BTW, I have a Dell Precision WS 490 in which the IDE DVD does not work. Tried replacement DVDs; did not work. My solution was to install a SATA DVD drive, and it is fine now. The empty front bay was adapted to accept a SATA HDD, instead of the SAS drives (too expensive).