DVD RW Snag
 

I've got a fairly new Packard Bell Desktop (I'd like to fix it myself as I don't really want the inconvenience of returning it yet)

I burnt a DVD a while ago, and tried to repeat the operation, but the machine kept asking for a disk, even though one was in the drive.

I now find the disk drive will not read any DVDs at all, and goes into a loop of trying to read and failing and so on. Eventually, the drawer will open, and I can grab the disk before it closes again and repeats the cycle.

It's running Windows 7, which tries to be clever and diagnose the problem, but doesn't of course.

With CDs it's fine!

The device manager assures me that all is well, but the problem persists.

I wonder if it's a hardware or driver problem?

Did you just buy new media for it or are you using a blank from the same batch you made your previous successful burn?

Is it possible your drive only supports DVD-R and the disks are DVD+R, or perhaps they're dual-layer media and you've got a drive only capable of burning to single-layer media.

Did you upgrade to Win7 or was it supplied with the machine? That would suggest that the machine is recent enough for my suggestions to be very unlikely.

Have you tried putting in a shop bought movie DVD? Does that play?

Are you positive that the disk you are putting in hasn't been used and closed off? in which case it will not work.

If your blank DVDs aren't burning, you may have bought a spindle full of landfill. Try a different brand.

Thanks guys

Machine supplied with Win7

The DVD-RW was the next one in the pack from the successful burn

The machine won't read proper shop bought DVDs either.

It is quite possible that the DVD laser has failed, while the CD laser still works.

They are physically different, as they work on different wavelengths.

Maybe time to buy a replacement - they are pretty cheap, just ensure that you get the correct interface (SATA / IDE).

SD

Thanks Saab

Didn't realise they were two different items. Sounds likely doesn't it.

Got several spare ones, but all IDE.

I expect this'll be SATA.

Time to have a look inside.

And at last iI got around to looking inside.

25 quid for a new SATA interface unit and all is ok. Thanks all