[SOLVED] How do I get my optical drive to work on Windows 10 ?

[ajclawson]

How do I get my optical drive to work in Windows 10 ?

It's happened more than once. After some hardware changes (IDR), it started working and worked for about a week. After unplugging most of my drives to force my PC to boot from a USB drive (that's a different problem that I fixed) and some other changes that I don't remember the drive worked again for about another week. After ripping some discs, it stopped. Like, I ripped a disc, then immediately put in another and it just quit recognizing media. I put the drive on a SATA to USB adapter and... nothing. I know it's not the drive. I have another, identical, drive. It also doesn't work.

The issue is that it doesn't recognize that there's a disc in it. BIOS sees the drive. Windows sees the drive. ImgBurn sees the drive.

I used a spare drive to create a new Windows installation and it didn't solve the issue.

Also, I can't boot from it, so I'm not sure if it's not a Windows thing, or if that's unrelated.

I'm including my Windows version if that helps: 10.0.19045 Build 19045

Blu-ray drive(s) is(are): HL-DT-ST BD-RE WH12LS30 firmware is updated, though I couldn't update it while non-functional, and I forgot to update it the last time it was working

I've tried every "fix" here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ng-in-my/a135b493-f383-4efa-92b5-328af5f1d1f2

Even this person, who has/had an identical issue gave up:
https://www.windows11forums.com/threads/optical-drive-not-shown.3502/

Any ideas?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Have you tried deleting the upper and lower filters registry? It may help.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-the-upperfilters-and-lowerfilters-registry-values-2619222

Do a back up of the registry, to roll back if needed.

 

[ajclawson]

Sorry, it's been a couple days since I've been able to post back. I've tried all the SATA ports/controllers and different cables. I'm very sure it's not a hardware issue, unless it's the mainboard, itself.

 

[ajclawson]

Have you tried deleting the upper and lower filters registry? It may help.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-delete-the-upperfilters-and-lowerfilters-registry-values-2619222

Do a back up of the registry, to roll back if needed.

Again, this was the first link in my OP.

 

[Misgar]

I'm very sure it's not a hardware issue, unless it's the mainboard, itself.

Until you try both optical drives on another computer, you can't be sure your existing computer is fully functional, or both drives have died. Your optical drives recognised discs in the past, but have stopped working. Something must have changed, either hardware or software. You need more hardware (another PC and another optical drive) to continue testing.

I used a spare drive to create a new Windows installation and it didn't solve the issue.

Also, I can't boot from it, so I'm not sure if it's not a Windows thing, or if that's unrelated.

When you say "I can't boot from it" do you mean you can't boot from the new installation of Windows on hard disk/SSD, or you can't boot from an optical disc, e.g. a Linux or Windows XP/7 installation DVD?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Again, this was the first link in my OP.

My bad.

 

[ajclawson]

Until you try both optical drives on another computer, you can't be sure your existing computer is fully functional, or both drives have died. Your optical drives recognised discs in the past, but have stopped working. Something must have changed, either hardware or software. You need more hardware (another PC and another optical drive) to continue testing.

I have another PC, but that has its own problem of not having video output, even though the board is brand new. I haven't had time to fix that so I'm using this old one for now.

When you say "I can't boot from it" do you mean you can't boot from the new installation of Windows on hard disk/SSD, or you can't boot from an optical disc, e.g. a Linux or Windows XP/7 installation DVD?

Those were 2 separate statements. I can't boot from the ODD.

New development while drafting this:
I plugged the other, identical, drive in via SATA to USB adapter and it works. It shows up in the left pane of File Explorer and reads discs just fine. I guess the one drive simply failed. It was just weird that it worked OK, stopped working, started working again, then stopped working again.

Anyway, thanks all for the help and suggestions.

 

[Aeacus]

I guess the one drive simply failed.

Nice to see that you finally acknowledged the inevitable.

 

[ajclawson]

You want to know what's even funnier? Just out of curiosity, I just banged the ODD installed in my tower and it started working again. Percussive maintenance still has value 😆

 

[Misgar]

I just banged the ODD installed in my tower and it started working again

You probably jarred the head mechanism loose if it was stuck in the wrong position. As I said earlier, you could try Lithium grease on the rails. The old brown grease may have dried out. Whilst you're at it, clean the laser lens.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOnS0c6Q6LM

 

[ajclawson]

You probably jarred the head mechanism loose if it was stuck in the wrong position. As I said earlier, you could try Lithium grease on the rails. The old brown grease may have dried out. Whilst you're at it, clean the laser lens.

You were 100% right. I just got around to opening it up and cleaning it. There really wasn't any residual grease, but I cleaned it, defuzzed what there was, re-greased the rails and carriage screw and cleaned the heads. It works perfectly now 😊