DVD/CD won't read some discs

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sport98

New Member
I have a Gateway FX running Intel core2 quad at 2.4 ghz and Win 7 64 bit. It has 2 generic DVD/CD R/W drives and both read most discs but recently I tried to install Turbo Tax and neither drive would read the disc. I then put the disc in my Win7 64 bit laptop and it came up just fine. I also tried it on an older WIN XP machine and it worked there too. The failure to read also happened with a disc burned with some medical files at a local office. I opened the disc properties window and when I tried to see the disc properties the drive said the discs were blank (empty). I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drives with no change in the outcome. Other than these 2 discs I've not had any problems. Are there setting that I can change for the drives? They are suppose to read any format.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You might want to try upgrading the firmware on the drives. What are the model numbers of the drives?
 
S

sport98

New Member
I've tried to update the drivers and the update says I have the latest but - the drive property says both are ATAPI DH16A1P and the driver version for both is 6.1.7600.16385. I have not opened the case to see if there is a brand name but I can do that if it would help.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I said firmware, not drivers. Firmware is different. I would need to know what the model number of the drives are. The device manager should tell you.

However download and run the following nero info tool and it will provide a report so you can post it back here.

http://majorgeeks.com/Nero_InfoTool_d120.html

Download and run it and then afterwards click on the save button up top, then uncheck all boxes down below but the one that says drive. Then click on save then copy and paste that info back here.
 
S

sport98

New Member
I think that the model is what I put in my reply and I got the drivers from device info but I can't see the firmware there. Anyway here is the file with the info from the scan.
 
S

sport98

New Member
I see that the firmware version for the DVD drives is RG11 but I can't seem to get the full report attached. I saved it to my desktop and uploaded it with the program here for replies it does not attach for some reason or I don't know where to look.
 
S

sport98

New Member
The whole report is huge so I'll just copy the DVD part unless you want more.

Nero InfoTool 5.3.3.0

Drive Information
------------------
Drive : ATAPI DVD A DH16A1P
Type : DVD±R/RW DL Recorder
Firmware Version : RG11
Buffer Size : 2 MB
Date : 2006-12-27
Serial Number : n/a
Vendor Specific : 2006/12/27 12:30
Drive Letter : E:\
Location : 1:0
Mechanism : Tray
Read Speed : 48 X
Write Speed : 48 X

Read CD Text : Yes
Return C2 Pointers : Yes
Read CD-R : Yes
Read CD-RW : Yes
Read DVD-ROM : Yes
Read DVD-RAM : Yes
Read DVD-R : Yes
Read DVD-RW : Yes
Read DVD-R DL : Yes
Read DVD+R : Yes
Read DVD+RW : Yes
Read DVD+R DL : Yes
Read BD-ROM : No
Read BD-R : No
Read BD-RE : No
Read HD DVD-ROM : No
Read HD DVD-R : No
Read HD DVD-R DL : No
Read HD DVD-RAM : No
Read HD DVD-RW : No
Read HD DVD-RW DL : No
Read HD-BURN : No
Read Digital Audio : Yes
Read CD+G : No
Read VideoCD : Yes

Write CD-R : Yes
Write CD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R : Yes
Write DVD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R DL : Yes
Write DVD+R : Yes
Write DVD+RW : Yes
Write DVD+R DL : Yes
Write DVD-RAM : No
Write DVD-RAM : Yes
Write BD-R : No
Write BD-RE : No
Write HD DVD-R : No
Write HD DVD-R DL : No
Write HD DVD-RAM : No
Write HD DVD-RW : No
Write HD DVD-RW DL : No
Write HD-BURN-R : No
Write HD-BURN-RW : No
Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
Mount Rainier : No
SolidBurn : No
Labelflash : No
LightScribe : No
Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96

Region Protection Control : RPC II
Region : 1
Changes User : 4
Changes Vendor : 4

CSS : Yes
CPRM : Yes
AACS : No
VCPS : No

Disc Information (E:\)
------------------
Type : :No disc inserted


Drive Information
------------------
Drive : ATAPI DVD A DH16A1P
Type : DVD±R/RW DL Recorder
Firmware Version : RG11
Buffer Size : 2 MB
Date : 2006-12-27
Serial Number : n/a
Vendor Specific : 2006/12/27 12:30
Drive Letter : F:\
Location : 1:1
Mechanism : Tray
Read Speed : 16.0 , 12.0 , 8.0 , 6.0 , 4.0 , 2.0 , 1.0 X
Write Speed : 48 X

Read CD Text : Yes
Return C2 Pointers : Yes
Read CD-R : Yes
Read CD-RW : Yes
Read DVD-ROM : Yes
Read DVD-RAM : Yes
Read DVD-R : Yes
Read DVD-RW : Yes
Read DVD-R DL : Yes
Read DVD+R : Yes
Read DVD+RW : Yes
Read DVD+R DL : Yes
Read BD-ROM : No
Read BD-R : No
Read BD-RE : No
Read HD DVD-ROM : No
Read HD DVD-R : No
Read HD DVD-R DL : No
Read HD DVD-RAM : No
Read HD DVD-RW : No
Read HD DVD-RW DL : No
Read HD-BURN : No
Read Digital Audio : Yes
Read CD+G : No
Read VideoCD : Yes

Write CD-R : Yes
Write CD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R : Yes
Write DVD-RW : Yes
Write DVD-R DL : Yes
Write DVD+R : Yes
Write DVD+RW : Yes
Write DVD+R DL : Yes
Write DVD-RAM : No
Write DVD-RAM : Yes
Write BD-R : No
Write BD-RE : No
Write HD DVD-R : No
Write HD DVD-R DL : No
Write HD DVD-RAM : No
Write HD DVD-RW : No
Write HD DVD-RW DL : No
Write HD-BURN-R : No
Write HD-BURN-RW : No
Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
Mount Rainier : No
SolidBurn : No
Labelflash : No
LightScribe : No
Modes : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96

Region Protection Control : RPC II
Region : 1
Changes User : 4
Changes Vendor : 4

CSS : Yes
CPRM : Yes
AACS : No
VCPS : No

Disc Information (F:\)
------------------
Type : :DVD-ROM
Capacity : 2.68 GB
Layers : 1
Version : 1
Disc size : 12 cm

File System : , UDF
Title : n/a
Date : n/a
Publisher : n/a
Application : n/a


System Information
------------------
AllocateCdRoms : n/a
Operating System : Professional (6.01.7600 )
Country : United States
Language : English
ANSI Code Page : 1252
OEM Code Page : 437
DirectX : DirectX 10.0
Internet Explorer : 8.0.7600.16385 (Build 87600)
 
N

Nanobyte

New Member
I look on dvd drives as consumables. I haven't had any that read all disks properly for more than a few years. Sometimes they stop reading old disks you recorded; sometimes not the very shiny commercial disks. If you have disks you can't read, you will probably find other drives may. Almost certainly due to the laser going off-spec. Hopefully your issue can be resolved in this thread but they are so cheap to replace these days.

I keep one old dvd drive installed per PC for such occurrences (and have all my old drives in storage).
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
The only problem I see here is that this is actually an OEM drive and not an actual Liteon drive. First, I would check gateways website to see if there has been a firmware update for that model of drive. If not, you can try crossflashing those drives to different firmware which should work. Click on this link and enter optical storage and then find model LH-16A1P, then download and run the firmware update.

http://us.liteonit.com/us/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=153

I take no responsibility if the firmware upgrade goes bad. Check gateways website first.
 
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