Weird DVDRW Drive problem...

[neoglow]

My partner has a Packard Bell laptop that is only a few months old, just recently I gave it a major clear-out from all the ****e that Packard Bell insist on installing, the daddy of them all is the hellish AOL to dispose of. Anyway, It received a good tidy out but not long after removing / sorting, it developed a problem with the DVD drive. Now, I was in the dog house for this since she thinks it was my fault and I should have left it alone. Well, I think of myself as a bit of a computer wiz-kid (or so my mum says! ) but I'm 100% sure it wasnt my fault the DVD drive is playing up. Basically Windows dosent recognise the drive, its not listed in My Computer and Device Manager says the drivers were loaded but no hardware was found. Immediatelly I thought it had gone faulty and it was just coincidence it happened the same time I cleared the PC out. If you insert a disc, it whirls and spins up but you cant do anything with it or even see the CD on the computer.

To check if the drive was actually working I inserted a Windows XP Home CD and rebooted the machine so it would run from the disc and would begin the process of a fresh install, (which I think I will be doing soon anyway) and it read from the CD no problem. To conclude, it seems to be Windows being plain dumb and not playing ball. For reference, it is a laptop so I cant just plonk in another drive to test, its a Packard Bell model R4650 and I have already tried uninstalling the device in Device Manager to have Windows 're-find' it again.

Any ideas people? I want to try and sort it without having to fresh install Windows and backup all her documents. Infact, could I even make a fresh install with the same serial key that came with the laptop since its already been activated?

The last resort is return it to PC World for repair, but that takes ages and frankly I havent been impressed with PC World service in the past.

Please help!

[Jei]

Here goes,

Firstly make sure you've got the Intel Chipset Drivers installed......

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...B17D01101#show

Then after that

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...B17D01101#show

And if all else fails try this.....

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...B17D01101#show

Although the last isn't really much use as you state that Device Manager doesn't pick it up at all

[neoglow]

And if all else fails try this.....

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...B17D01101#show

Although the last isn't really much use as you state that Device Manager doesn't pick it up at all

Funnily enough, this is the exact symptom it has, sorry I meant it was listed in Device Manager but was not recognised by Windows. I cant wait to try this now tomorrow and hopefully get me off the hook with "you know who". I did actually have a quick scan on PB's website but obviously I didnt look hard enough, I'm pleasantly suprised by their website, I always assumed PC manufacturer websites were unresourceful but they have everything on there for the machine!

A big big thankyou to jeimuzu_uk for the reply and PM, even if it dosent work, many thanks for looking.

On a similar note, if I did still go ahead with a fresh install of Windows from a legit Windows disc and used the CD key on the bottom of the machine would this pull off without a hitch? I would have to use a generic Windows disc since PB only give you a restore disc with the 'modified' or 'AOL infested' version on an HDD partition. This I would delete and start afresh - after backing up drivers and documents of course!. I own a legit version of Windows (sorry I say 'legit' because the word 'copy' has always made me laugh...if you say to someone "you have a copy of something" do you/they mean a legit copy or a backup copy???) Anyway, back on track, could I use my Windows disc which came with its own CD key but just use the laptops CD key and activate as normal or would I get a "this CD key has already been activated by someone else message" ?

Thanks, Mark.

[Jei]

You should have no problem using the laptop's serial key.

If you've got a generic version of Windows XP then you "should" get away with it. Packard Bell DMI all their laptop motherboards so you may not even get asked for the serial key when installing.

Other than that you'l probably find the restore disc doesn't have all the crap that the factory shipped laptop has. The factory shipped HD runs off pre-set images for that particular model. Saves drivers being installed and the problems that you're finding now.

My first route would be to use the restore disc, I recently left a large computer firm and if they operate the same way we did (I'm pretty positive they do) then you'l be fine

[neoglow]

Thats interesting what you said about DMI motherboards, I never knew there was such a thing. Just for future reference, I understand you cannot use the CD key for Windows twice, if you do a fresh install of Windows after a previous install where Windows has been activated, how do Microsoft know you are using the same machine? Or dont they? So for example, say the motherboard in the laptop is not DMI and I have to enter a CD key and activate it online once Windows is installed, would it not come up with the duplicate error? And the same would go for if I gave my CD key to a friend, they would not be able to activate? How exactly do Microsoft know when the CD key is being re-activated or activated from a different machine?

M.

[Jei]

When you go to activate it takes all system details, specification etc, and creates a unique key. This key is assigned to the serial number the first time it's used.

So....

If none of the hardware's changed, it'l still work fine. If there are any problems though just give microsoft a bell and explain the situation and I've found them to be quite helpful to the customers experiencing similar difficulties.

[vertigo]

Question: Are you sure you haven't just got the power line plugged in and accidentally left the interface line disconnected? I don't know much about laptops so don't know if those two cables are integrated, but if this was the case the drive would spin up without being detected or sending any data.

[neoglow]

All sorted now! YAY! 8) Thanks jeimuzu_uk, the guide on PB's website to edit the registry solved it. (http://support.packardbell.com/uk/my...B17D01101#show) Strange error, never come accross anything like that before. So how much I owe you?

Cheers, M.

PS. Vertigo - I hadnt actually opened up the laptop, didnt want to void the warranty, I've never actually seen the insides of a laptop so I'm not sure about the power cable/data cable configuration. But thanks for post though!

[ascender]

Even if the CD key on the laptop doesn't work, you should be able to phone Packard Bell or MS and get a new one generated from it. I've had to do that a couple of times now where XP keys on laptops didn't work any more for re-installing Windows. Not quite sure how they stopped working exactly, they just did.

[vertigo]

PS. Vertigo - I hadnt actually opened up the laptop, didnt want to void the warranty, I've never actually seen the insides of a laptop so I'm not sure about the power cable/data cable configuration. But thanks for post though!

OK, was worth a try. I've had to fix (i.e. attach correctly) problems with drives before where people have tried to add or move around stuff inside their comp and have attached either cable but not the other, or the FDD cable upside down or similar **** and then wondered why it doesn't work. Clue: If you don't know how to put it back together again and you don't have a few spare hours, don't take it apart.
Glad you got it all working again though, PCs and laptops are a pain in the arse

[in5ane]

Installing Napster on my laptop stops the dvd drive from being recognised

Damn companies for installing their propriety **** on our machines!

[Jei]

So how much I owe you?

You have PM