I have an HP A1350N desktop that came with a factory installed 740B DVD drive. This drive is completely inoperable at this point - within Windows Explorer, no files are recognized on the disk. I have tried standard audio CDs, CD-R, DVD+R and DVD+RW with the same results - put the disk in the drive, close the door and the drive spins for a moment and then stops - no files are recognized.
I tried upgrading the firmware to version HI24 and spent several hours with HP "support" to no avail (updated several registry files, ran PC-Doctor, etc, etc.). A few interesting observations with PC-Doctor:
1) When I try to run the 'CD Audio Test', the drive keeps spitting the CD-ROM disk out, prompting me to enter a disk with an audio track.
2) The 'DVD Media Test' works as expected - the drive recognizes the DVD+RW disk and completes the test successfully.
When I use the same DVD+RW disk either to view files via Explorer or add additional files via Sonic, the drive no longer recognizes the disk - only PC-Doctor is able to get the disk to spin.
The last thing HP wanted me to do that I will NOT do, is reinstate to the factory settings via system recovery. Working with HP 'support' is a process I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Adam