DVD-ROM/CD-RW only reads DVDs

R

RyanK23

New Member
Hello everyone,

I purchased a refurbished Gateway M520 notebook just under a year ago and about 2 months ago the combo drive stopped recognizing CDs. I can only play DVDs as of now even though it is listed in my device manager as working properly and appears in the BIOS. When I insert a Data CD (game, audio, etc...) the autoplay feature will not enable and when I open the drive manually through explorer it shows no CD icon or contents of any sort. When I insert a DVD it will come up and play just fine. My warranty has already expired so Gateway is of no help... I have repeatedly updated all of the drivers with no success. Does anyone have any suggestions short of buying a new external USB drive? Thanks!
 
P.S. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drive...updating drivers and system restore still nothing
 
Could just be a failing laser. My PS2 does basically the same thing, and dad has a DVD player that no longer plays DVDs(plays Video CD's just fine)

I'd try the drive in another computer. I feel quite sure you'll have the exact same problem.
 
If it's a notebook can you still swap the drive out? Well even if so I don't know anyone with a laptop... I was thinking of picking up an external drive and seeing if that works...but if it doesn't theres more $ down the toilet no returns :-(
 
Hope you haven't dumped it just yet. You could first try using one of those laser-cleaning discs as you've nothing to lose?
 
Call up gateway and see if they have answer, i used to sell gateway computers, they are pricks but ask them how much it'd be to replace the failed optical drive, before buying an external, because trust me externals and all tha other stuff just become a annoyence cluttering up and such(may sound dumb but it really can bug a person)
 
The computer is also saying "Primary Hard drive Status BAD, Backup and Replace...Press F1 to continue" and runs extremely slow. Could this be a software problem that might be fixed if I formatted and started fresh or does this mean the hardware is physically bad? Of course I cannot reinstall without a working CD-ROM so I am wondering if it would even be worth it to replace...computer also shuts off after 15 minutes when I am playing counterstrike but will stay running when I do anything else...should I just chuck this thing? Plz help!!

Gateway M520 Notebook
2.8 GHz Celeron
736MB RAM
Slimtype COMBO LSC-24082K CD-RW/DVD ROM
 
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