Vistamized CD Drive is Retarted

[Saber]

I've had my vista computer for just about 3 weeks or so now. Right after we bought it we installed our printer onto the computer using the CD-ROM drive and it worked perfectly. Between then and now things have been downloaded and installed on the computer here and there, but the problem is that now whenever we put a CD into the drive the computer won't read it. It can't even realize that there is a CD in the computer.

Once we looked into the problem a little and read through the Windows support center with our problem, it started off by saying iTunes is not compatable with Vista and that was the problem with the CD drive. We removed that completely from the system, and tried again. No luck.

Any suggestions on how to get my Cd-ROM drive working again would be very helpful.

[nighthawkx]

you sure ti isn't a hardware problem? CD drives are just about the most generic universal thing out there as far as hardware support goes.

do data CDs work?

[squall24]

I've been running Itunes since the day I got the computer. I'd say reinstall Windows if that isn't too much of a hassle, unless of course you can't boot from the disk either.

[Saber]

Originally Posted by nighthawkx

you sure ti isn't a hardware problem? CD drives are just about the most generic universal thing out there as far as hardware support goes.

do data CDs work?

All CDs won't run. You insert a disk and it's like the reader doesn't even realize that you inserted a disk for it to read when you go to look at it through My Computer. Also you know how you can usually hear the disk as it rotates around in the drive? It's dead silent meaning the drive itself is doing absolutely nothing with any disk in there.

Originally Posted by squall24

I've been running Itunes since the day I got the computer. I'd say reinstall Windows if that isn't too much of a hassle, unless of course you can't boot from the disk either.

We can't do anything from a disk at all. Very old-school but it'll pick up data entered from a floppy drive or flashdrive. It's only the CD drive saying you need to uninstall this this and that to get it working.

Is it possible that the drive just failed after a month and we need to go purchase a new one to install in it's place?

[GDwarf]

That's what Nighthawk was saying.

No noise at all is odd, actually, since it implies a software problem (Hardware problems in CD-rom drives have a habit of making "grind" noises) but the lack of movement implies a hardware problem, since it should spin the disc up as soon as it's entered, regardless of software.


I'd try a different disc drive if you have one, or your current drive in a different computer if you have one.


Worst case scenario you buy a new CD drive, find it also doesn't work thus showing that Vista is the problem, and you're out $20.

[Saber]

Last night we had removed the drive from the vista and put it into our other vista and it gave my mum the same problem, she said. But after it was put into the XP it worked perfectly fine. That makes it seem more like a vista problem with the drive, but I don't know how it had worked for a week and then just stopped working all together.

[GDwarf]

Hmmmm, what brand is the CD drive?

[Saber]

Lightscribe.

[GDwarf]

Er, that's not a brand, that's a technology. Though I can see how it'd be easy to confuse it for a brand name.

[Saber]

The drive doesn't say anything else that could be a name.

From right to left it has "Compact Disk ReWriteable Ultra Speed", "Lightscribe", "DVD Multi Recorder", and "RW DVD + R DL"

There's nothing written anywhere else on it.

[GDwarf]

Odd.

Well, that means it's either directly from HP or they licensed the Lightscribe technology. Either way that implies a reasonably mainstream make.


Honestly, I have no idea why it wouldn't work, other than saying that iTunes almost certainly isn't the culprit.

[Λύσις]

I have a computer that has the same exact problem. You put a CD in and it doesn't even know it's there. My grandma's computer did the same thing as well. All I can think of is that it's a hardware problem, so I'd suggest replacing the drive.

[ShadowLink92]

That is indeed odd. I have a similar problem with one of my HP drives, but Im running XP.

Do you have another CD drive you can try in your vista computer?

[F3]

Originally Posted by Saber

Once we looked into the problem a little and read through the Windows support center with our problem, it started off by saying iTunes is not compatable with Vista and that was the problem with the CD drive. We removed that completely from the system, and tried again. No luck.

Any suggestions on how to get my Cd-ROM drive working again would be very helpful.

I have a hunch so try this:
-Download AutoRuns from here
-Unzip and open autoruns.exe. Let it do its thing populating the list (Might take a few moments)
-Go to Options and click Hide Microsoft Entries, then hit the refresh button (The list will repopulate much smaller this time)
-Click the "Drivers" tab
-Look for an entry named GEARAspiWDM and let me know if you find it.

[Saber]

I got to the Drivers tab, but there is nothing named GEARspiWDM.

Here's what appeared in the tab

[F3]

So much for that then. That particular driver is installed by iTunes which is what made me think of it.

[Saber]

My mum uninstalled iTunes after the warning alert box said that was why our drive wasn't working.

[F3]

Sometimes certain things don't get removed properly, whether it was due to an error or a sloppy uninstaller. In any case that doesn't seem to be it here... I would spend some time with Google on this one.