dvd-cd failure

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Toshiba laptop Satellite P205-S6237. DVD-cd drive quit reading disk.(Pioneer Dvr-k17LF) I have tried a number of disks including factory program disk. It just sits there making noise and finally goes quiet with the light drive light on.

Here is what I have done so far.
Went to Device manager (it says it is working ok) I uninstalled and rebooted. Nope
Asked around and someone said go to regedit and get rid of the high and low filters. Went there and there were no filters.
Restored to a earlier point. Nope
Uninstalled a few apps that others had said might interfere with it. (itunes, adobe reader (I don’t use them anyway)) NOPE
Went to the Toshiba site and look for any updates or bulletins, didn’t seem to be any.
So I thought well the drive must be bad…..
But…
If I put in the restore disk from Toshiba it reads it fine every time and immediately up comes their menu…but put in any other disk and it just works and works until it stops with light on.
But that is the ONLY disk that it will read?????? Any suggestions????
Thanks in advance

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Replace the drive ??? Simple, straight forward and instant gratification.

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I hate to admit it but Doc’s post 721,043 maybe the solution.

I will offer a few suggestions:
1) (EXTREMELY SLIM CHANCE) try using a CD lens cleaner.
2) Verify you have the latest firmware fro the DVD (Found [DVR-K17 Internal Slim DVD/CD Writer – Tray Load Resources here.
3) Remove and re-install DVD Player to ensure proper connections.
4) Look into replacement drive

Question, by any chance is the computer/drive under warranty ?

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Replace….
Yes, it is under warranty. I called teck support and the first thing they wanted me to do was to a restore from the disk that came with the lappie.
In fact that is how I found out that the drive WILL read the disk!
I did not want to do a restore just yet…
But WHY would the drive read the restore disk but no other disk.
If it will read a certain disk, why can it read another.
What is so special about the restore disk??

I do have all my doc backed up, but not an image so I would have to re-install many many many aps and etc which I am not looking forward to.
I am thinking if the drive is bad, I would rather just replace it.
But I don’t think the guys at warranty will repair without making me go thru the restore option….

It this what they call a brick and a hard place?????

Thanks for your help

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If you choose to go back to the support team, you might pose the question, why it reads their CD but no others, to them and see how they respond. If their answer seems contrived just to get you to do it their way or just not right, you can ask to speak to their supervisor because you believe the drive is bad and are not willing to chance losing your data or your system configuration for the price of a new drive. Of course, that tac can get you disconnected.

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Thanks Doc,
I think I am back to support. Just as you suggested, I am going to ask and see what they say. The last support guy I talk to seems to be in the US so I could understand him
I will let all know what happened….

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Well, this has been a learning experience for me.
I found out why the restore disk would read in the drive. It seems that the DVD-CD drive will still read DVD’s. and the restore disk are DVD’s!

Someone told me in passing that such drives use two different laser lenses, one for DVD and one for CD.

Hence the CD part of the drive is kaput, which makes, of course, the whole drive kaput.
So…off to the warranty guys.

I will report back when all is well, to let all know the outcome.
Appreciate the help.

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Michael,
Insist on a replacement drive.
If they say they want you to do a restore, call them back later, go have a cup of coffee and say you restored but it still is NG, send me a new drive.

Two can play at their game.

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After a little bit they said they would replace the drive with a new one WITHOUT a restore!!!
The down side is I do have to send it off for a few days..
.will have to confiscate the wife’s and tell her I am doing maintenance and upgrading and it will take a few days before I can get it back to her.

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>> After a little bit they said they would replace the drive with a new one WITHOUT a restore!!! <<

>> .will have to confiscate the wife’s … <<
Recently I needed a DL DVD Burner to backup several computer systems (Disk image restore disks). The systems had various CD/DVD/CDRW optical drives, none the same. I ended up going to TigerDirect.Com. I purchased a External HP DVD1040e for just under $66.00 USD S&H included.

Specs are:
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HP DVD1040e Lightscribe SuperMulti Retail DVD Burner – 20x DVD±R Burn, 16x DVD±R Read, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL, 12x DVD-RAM, 48x32x CD-R/RW, External

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[/indent]

I made the backup disk on media the backed up computer could handle.

This may make an alternative backup device for future use/endeavors

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In an old Lounge post somewhere which I won’t bother to look up, I had the reverse problem. In my case the DVD was bad and the CD was still OK. Luckily for me, Dell didn’t hesitate a second on replacing the hardware. Good luck and keep us posted.

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Scott,
I am a guy to try even the slimest of ideas,
Right next to my lappie is a box of lens cloths…..
I cleaned the heck of the whole thing…… up down and sidways…..Nope

Oh well it was worth a try, what a kick if it had worked!!!!!!!

Thanks

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