[newgold]

The computer is a Gateway P-7811FX, running Vista.
The DVD drive is an optiarc DVD RW AD-7583S.

I've had the computer for about a year - the DVD drive was working fine until earlier today.

The DVD drive has stopped reading discs - DVDs and CDs. When I put a disc into the drive, I get a little squeak sound, but then it sounds like it stops spinning. When I go to "explore" the DVD drive, it tells me to insert a disc.

A few times the DVD drive has jammed when I went to eject the disc, and a few times windows explorer has frozen totally when trying to explore the DVD drive, and the DVD drive refuses to open at all.

There doesn't seem to be any problem with the drivers.

Any ideas?

Edited by newgold, 31 March 2010 - 07:26 PM.

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It sounds like the drive may have died on you. Here are your options...

1. Uninstall the drive through the Device Manager

• Click Start (in Vista/7 Click Windows Orb)
• Right Click My Computer
• Select Properties
• Click on the Hardware Tab (In Vista/7 click Device Manager in top left corner)
• Click Device Manager
• Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives
• Right click your drive
• Select Uninstall (see image below)
• Restart your computer

The drive will automatically be reinstalled



OR...

2. Go to Microsoft's Fix

• Choose your Operating System's fix
• A restart is required

OR...

3. Download Restore Missing CD Drive patch

• Double Click cdgone.zip to unzip it(extract all files)
• Right Click cdgone.reg
• Click Merge
• Accept the registry merge
• Restart your computer

OR...

4. Go to the Device Manager (similar to option 1 above)

• Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
• You'll see two items:
  - ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
  - ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
• Right click on each of them
• Select Uninstall
• Confirm it
• Restart your computer

They'll automatically be reinstalled.

Make sure all the internal connections are secure (which they probably are). If none of this works, I would suspect a bad drive.

[Ferrari]

It sounds like the drive may have died on you. Here are your options...

1. Uninstall the drive through the Device Manager

• Click Start (in Vista/7 Click Windows Orb)
• Right Click My Computer
• Select Properties
• Click on the Hardware Tab (In Vista/7 click Device Manager in top left corner)
• Click Device Manager
• Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives
• Right click your drive
• Select Uninstall (see image below)
• Restart your computer

The drive will automatically be reinstalled



OR...

2. Go to Microsoft's Fix

• Choose your Operating System's fix
• A restart is required

OR...

3. Download Restore Missing CD Drive patch

• Double Click cdgone.zip to unzip it(extract all files)
• Right Click cdgone.reg
• Click Merge
• Accept the registry merge
• Restart your computer

OR...

4. Go to the Device Manager (similar to option 1 above)

• Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
• You'll see two items:
  - ATA Channel0 (or Primary Channel)
  - ATA Channel1 (or Secondary Channel)
• Right click on each of them
• Select Uninstall
• Confirm it
• Restart your computer

They'll automatically be reinstalled.

Make sure all the internal connections are secure (which they probably are). If none of this works, I would suspect a bad drive.