December 20, 2004

• Dammit, I forgot a link title again?
• If you've moved it recently, you may want to check the bus cable to see if it's firmly connected on both ends, the back of the CD player and the motherboard. Of course, you could just have a busted player. They're not too expensive (A CD-RW internal will only run you $75) I wish I could be mroe helpful, but I only do Macs. :)
• Mfpb It will open and close, but treats both audio and data CDs as if the drive is empty. Do you mean that the CDs no longer start automatically after closing the drawer, or do you mean that Windows Explorer complains that the drive is empty when you browse over to it? If it's the first thing, you may just have auto-insert notification turned off, which can be turned on again through the Windows control panel (details vary depending on your version of Windows, though). If it's the second thing, you may have a more serious problem. Debaser626 ...you may want to check the bus cable to see if it's firmly connected on both ends, the back of the CD player and the motherboard. If I'm not mistaken, an Inspiron is a laptop. Things should not come lose in there, unless it's been dropped or something. I wouldn't open a laptop myself.
• Dunno much about laptops or dells, but... Is there any computer info that comes up when you turn your computer on? Often if you hit delete or f10 or other keys you will be able to access your bios setup. Along with a bunch of other scary options that will mess up your computer there is always a drive setup screen that will autodetect your drives, including your cdrom. Check to see if that works before doing anything software related. Or get somebody who knows what they're doing (e.g. more than I do) to check it for you. Drives do sometimes just go bad.
• Do you mean that the CDs no longer start automatically after closing the drawer, or do you mean that Windows Explorer complains that the drive is empty when you browse over to it? It thinks the drive is empty, and so do all other programs. The Dell Inspiron is a laptop, so I'm thinking it shouldn't be an issue with something coming loose; I don't particularly want to mess with anything by opening it anyway. I just find it weird that it would just stop one day. Along with a bunch of other scary options that will mess up your computer there is always a drive setup screen that will autodetect your drives, including your cdrom. I don't think that's the issue, because it knows the drive is there (it shows up in My Computer, etc.) Egh. Please tell me I don't have to send it back to the Dell people, I think that'd kill me. Or, at least, tell me it's not permanently broken.
• When you insert a CD, can you hear it spinning, or does the drive do nothing? If the disc spins, maybe there is a problem with the lens or laser that is preventing the drive from reading the disc. Maybe the drive needs to be cleaned? And stripe is right...sometimes drives just die. The DVD drive in my XBOX stopped reading discs a few weeks ago. I think the laser is toast. And I just bought Halo2. *sniff*
• Sounds like a dead laptop CD to me, and I've seen a few. In my experience desktop drives usually have the drawer motor fail (so the drawer won't open), but this happens very rarely. Laptop CDs fail much more often, though still not terribly often, in exactly the way you describe. Failures in general are also much more common with the Inspirons, just like with any other consumer level laptop line. Assuming the CD module is removeable, try pulling it out, then sliding and locking it back into place. Sometimes the internal connectors get out of sync, even if you haven't taken the drive module out at all. Do this with the laptop turned off, of course. If the CD module is easily removeable, you can likely find a replacement online through Ebay, or order a replacement drive through Dell themselves. Check Ebay first for pricing, and if you go to Dell, see if they have refurbished ones. Laptop CD modules are usually $100 or less. Refurbished computer parts are usually not a serious risk. The only thing you should always stay away from are refurbished hard drives. If the CD drive is not a removeable module, you're going to have to send it in, or find a reliable laptop service center. Assuming of course, you're not particularly handy when it comes to computer repair.
• If the laptop is new enough to be able to boot from the cd drive (which it probably is) have soemone burn you a copy of knoppix and if it can boot from that, then the problem is windows. However, I would imagine that the drive is just dead. Is it s burner? Might try putting a blank disk in and see what happens.
• It hates blank discs - Sonic Recordnow and iTunes both freak out or freeze when I try to burn playlists. I can hear the drive spinning when I put a CD in, and even the "CD reading" mouse cursor displays. It can also distinguish between an empty CD drive and a CD, because it the green light will keep blinking if I put something in. I just tried my copy of Photoshop and it made a very ugly whirring/grinding noise.
• Have you tried external (Firewire or USB) CD or DVD drives to see if you can reproduce the problem (and if so, it would be software -- operating system -- related)? Have you tried visiting the Dell support site for drive firmware and software driver updates (or a reinstall from Windows CD if possible) for your internal drive? The process is to isolate this to software, and if that fails, to isolate the problem to hardware. Software problems seem to occur more often than hardware problems, in my experience, with "name-brand" computers. I would start with troubleshooting mechanisms that isolate the problem, starting with most-likely causes and working your way back to less-probable stuff.
• This happened to me with a Gateway laptop after I installed iTunes. I had a CD-ROM, but the iTunes installer assumed I had a CD burner, and installed a driver for it. When I finally figured out to uninstall the driver it worked fine. In the device manager, look at the CD driver details. If there's one called Gear something, and you don't have a burner, try deleting it. Email me if you need more details.
• I have an Inspiron with a similar issue. I sent it back to Dell about a year ago (big mistake) - they not only refused to honor the warantee and fix the motehrboard, they were nice enough to send it back with the frame cracked. So now my CD drive has an issue where it will often whir and flash the green light endlessly and not read the disc. I have to repeatedly pop the CD in and out and kind of hold the drawer in and pinch the frame of the computer together, and eventually it will read. I dont know if this is similar to your issue, but in my case its b/c that side of the computer was physically abused and I think the CD drive isnt quite connecting to the computer unless i hold/push it all the way into position, if that makes sense...
• I have to deal quite a bit with Dell so here's my advice for ya: My brother just got an Inspiron a couple months ago and has had many problems with the drive. The current one is just like yours, drive spins but does not read. I don't believe this is a software issue, I think you need a replacement drive. Now, are you under warranty with Dell? If you are, it shouldn't be TOO painful (maybe not pleasant...) but you should get them on the phone either way. You may end up talking to someone with an accent but at least you can get things straight. If you are under warranty they will either send you a new drive or have you ship the laptop back (Note: they should be able to tell you ahead of time if the warranty will cover the work before sending the laptop). Depending on the warranty it may also be possible that a tech could come and replace the drive in your house (in the case of "Next Business Day" service, which if it is store bought you probably don't have). To see what your warranty is, go to this page and enter the service tag on the bottom of your laptop.