NEC DVD-RW ND-3550A drive does not read Microsoft DVDs

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sadena

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Have a wierd situation. I've got a home built system that's been working great for years. Uses lots of software and media, CDs and DVDs. Never had a problem.

Now I'm upgrading it to Windows 7 and Office 2010 (which I have a DVD for instead of downloading).

And the drive won't read either of the DVDs! It just treats them like they are not there.

I got around the problem by installing a DVD-RW drive from another system (brand unknown becuase the top is covered with felt, don't ask).
It reads the Windows 7 DVD no problem, install goes through.

I figure it is a one off so I switch the drives back. I install 10-20 pieces of software with no problem. Now it is time to install Office 2010 DVD. And the drive doesn't read it! I put in the Windows 7 DVD to confirm, and it can't read it either. They are the same sort of vintage of DVDs

No firmware updates available.

So what do you all think? I've got the work-around, installing the borrowed drive, but should I replace the NEC drive with something newer because there are new DVDs that it can't read? I mean this thing can read +r +rw -r -rw -ram -rom everything except these two disks of the same type.
 

sadena

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I'm too curious just to end the problem without understanding it. Is there a KB article about this? Why should these new DVDs be unreadable? Is it Microsoft or exclusively NEC?

NEC BTW provides no support for their drives. They don't even list them as their products.
 
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