This drive started out working fine in my laptop for nearly a year.
However last night I inserted a DVD+R DL (which I am sure it supports) in and I have not been able to read DVD's since. I have put in numerous different types of discs since then cd's, cd-r, and cd-rw all work fine. When I insert a DVD(any type) I can hear it trying to read but not spinning like it would reading a cd. The drive just says it's empty and that it has nothing in it. No error actually pops up.
I have no idea where to even start with this problem can anyone point me in some direction. I have checked drivers and re-installed it.
I'm running Win 7 64bit if that makes a difference.
it's an nec drive.. try cleaning it and if theres no improvement then it's either a gonner of you have some game dvd protection rootkit crap blocking up winduhz.
If cleaning does not work,the DVD part of the drive might be gone. You can still use it to read CDs, but I would buy a new DVD drive(pretty cheap nowadays).
I posted that about rootkits because.. XP machine came in reading cd but not dvd.. couldn't find any reason except some game installed.. decided to swap dvd drive with my known good one.. same problem.. drives both worked 100% running *nix.
reinstall xp solved the problem.. no malware could be found. (yes.. I know all those suggestions about messing with registry keys.. they either didn't exist or were already what was suggested to change them to)
NEC drives are generally long lasting.. most 3550 era are still going strong.. tho the 21xx series are now dying in droves. Test with something other than rootkit/virus central xp before junking.
ND-3550A are indeed very good drives. I actually have one 3550A that is over 3 years old, with extensive burning in the first 2 years, and still works with no problem. However, the laptop drives are usually flimsier than desktop drives.
If could trace back and remember when the DVD drive did work, maybe find a correlation between some program/game installed. If you use the drive to read/write mostly DVDs, is not unusual for the DVD part of the drive to fail and the CD to still be functional.
My nec did the "no read but still writes" bit after I moved it from one case to another. A good clean and good as new..
I wish I knew what the rootkit or disabling thing was, but I never found the cure apart from a reinstall. Would be pretty expensive with a laptop skinny drive to fork out the stupid amounts of cash these things cost to find it's some securom shennanagins tho.
