Question External CD/DVD Drive recognised, but contents can't be seen by Windows

[bawjaws]

Hey All! I have a Dell Optiplex 3080 USFF machine which seems to detect 2 different USB-connected external CD/DVD drives when they are connected. They show up as drives in File Explorer and as devices in Device manager.

However, no matter what I try, Windows does not seem able to actually read the discs. I've tried both devices on another system, and they both work fine on that system.

I've been through the suggested troubleshooting steps at https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-doesnt-recognize-cd-drive/, and I've also tried using both Media Player and VLC.

I've also tried different USB ports, and have run the Dell optical drive troubleshooter (which passed), and the Windows troubleshooter (which detected no problems). I'm totally flumoxed. I'd really prefer to not have to rebuild Windows on the machine as I have lots of things setup on it.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[popatim]

What is on the disk that you have in the drive and what type of disk is it?

 

[bawjaws]

What is on the disk that you have in the drive and what type of disk is it?

It's a plain-old audio CD (original, not copied), so would expect to see 10 .cda files. I've also tried plain-old DVDs (again originals), all with the same behaviour.

VLC log shows the following:

main debug: processing request item: dvd:///E:/, node: Playlist, skip: 0
main debug: rebuilding array of current - root Playlist
main debug: rebuild done - 1 items, index 0
main debug: starting playback of new item
main debug: resyncing on dvd:///E:/
main debug: dvd:///E:/ is at 0
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: Creating an input for 'dvd:///E:/'
main debug: requesting art for new input thread
main debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MiB
main debug: using timeshift path: C:\Users\bawja\AppData\Local\Temp
main debug: `dvd:///E:/' gives access `dvd' demux `any' path `/E:/'
main debug: creating demux: access='dvd' demux='any' location='/E:/' file='E:\'
main debug: looking for meta fetcher module matching "any": 1 candidates
main debug: looking for access_demux module matching "dvd": 15 candidates
dvdnav error: Could not open E: with libdvdcss.
dvdnav error: Can't open E: for reading
dvdnav error: vm: failed to open/read the DVD
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Users\bawja\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\meta\fetcher
dvdnav warning: cannot open DVD (E:)
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\fetcher
main debug: no meta fetcher modules matched
main debug: looking for art finder module matching "any": 2 candidates
dvdread error: Could not open E: with libdvdcss.
dvdread error: Can't open E: for reading
dvdread error: DVDRead cannot open source: E:
main debug: no access_demux modules matched
main debug: creating access: dvd:///E:/
main debug:  (path: E:\)
main debug: looking for access module matching "dvd": 27 candidates
main debug: no access modules matched
main debug: dead input
lua debug:

 

[bawjaws]

And when I get VLC to try to play a CD, this is what the log shows:

main debug: starting playback of new item
main debug: resyncing on cdda:///E:/
main debug: cdda:///E:/ is at 0
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: Creating an input for 'cdda:///E:/'
main debug: requesting art for new input thread
main debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MiB
main debug: using timeshift path: C:\Users\bawja\AppData\Local\Temp
main debug: `cdda:///E:/' gives access `cdda' demux `any' path `/E:/'
main debug: creating demux: access='cdda' demux='any' location='/E:/' file='E:\'
main debug: looking for access_demux module matching "cdda": 15 candidates
main debug: looking for meta fetcher module matching "any": 1 candidates
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Users\bawja\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\meta\fetcher
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\meta\fetcher
main debug: no meta fetcher modules matched
main debug: looking for art finder module matching "any": 2 candidates
cdda debug: using winNT/2K/XP ioctl layer
cdda error: could not read TOCHDR
cdda error: invalid track number: 1/0
main debug: no access_demux modules matched
main debug: creating access: cdda:///E:/
main debug:  (path: E:\)
main debug: looking for access module matching "cdda": 27 candidates
cdda debug: using winNT/2K/XP ioctl layer
main debug: no access modules matched
main debug: dead input
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Users\bawja\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\meta\art
lua debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\lu