Disk Drive Error.

[Skie]

Ok so past few months the disk drive (CD thing) in my laptop has not been working. I dont think the drive is dead but not sure. Anyway local repair shop saying they cant fix them they have to replace them completely and it will cost $85. The laptop was 1.8k at the time but its 3 years old. Can get one that rivals it for like $400 now at wal-mart. So Does anyone have any ideas what i can do to fix it? The drive drive opens and closes fine, and the laser looks undamaged. In the Device Manager it has the yellow exclamation mark on the "Optiarc DVD RW AD-5540A ATA Device". I think it might be a problem with the drivers but under the support section i dont see where the disk drivers are. The problem the drive reports is:

Description:
  Windows was able to successfully install device driver software, but the driver software encountered a problem when it tried to run. The problem code is 10.

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:	PnPDeviceProblemCode
  Architecture:	x86
  Hardware Id:	IDE\CdRomOptiarc_DVD_RW_AD-5540A_________________1.J0____
  Setup class GUID:	{4d36e965-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
  PnP problem code:	0000000A
  Driver name:	cdrom.sys
  Driver version:	6.0.6000.16386
  Driver date:	11-02-2006
  OS Version:	6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.2
  Locale ID:	1033

If i need to have it fixed/buy a new one which would you go with. The stats for the computer are.

System:

Manufacturer: Alienware
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5500 @ 1.66GHz 1.67 GHz
Memory: 1022 MB
System Type: 32-bit Operating System
OS: Windows vista Home Basic
System Model: M5700I-R2
BIOS: ver 1.00PARTTBL

Display:

Name: ATI Mobility Radeon X1800
Chip Type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x7102)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Total Memory: 510 MB

Thanks

[Isiolia]

There aren't normally additional drivers for DVD-RWs or the like anymore. There are plenty of things that "could" be issues, like the interface board, firmware, etc.

Possible that this will fit, for less. May also try flashing the firmware on the drive from here though that may not do anything.

There's a good chance that the hardware is just toast though, and $50 or $85 is cheaper than a new laptop if the rest of the machine is fine.

[Skie]

my gf also has a alienware (although not same model as mine) would it be possible to jack the drive out of hers and replace it with mine? (her hard drive is fried)

[Gargoyle]

Voted for buy a new one, seems you could just replace with an external for cheaper than the repair option.

Reference: http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...-CD-DVD-Drives

[Skie]

I just pulled one out of gfs pc and it is same size/make of mine so i tried switching them. Didn't work. Driver failed to start and same bs like it was. So the hard ware its self isant the problem its something software related. Also though the problem with my gfs pc is that when i try to turn it on it goes to a black screen saying disk read error hit CTRL+ALT+Delete to restart. i put my HD in her pc and it works fine, although the fonts and every are huge (anyone know how to change that looked right clicked desktop but didn't see anything under personalize). But anyway i've figured out its not hardware related. any ideas to fix software. I looked at flashing the filmware like one person suggested but wasnt sure which model i had.


EDIT:

font fixed its self upon reboot although now driver on her computer is giving exact same problems. something to do with connection maybe? or is it something wrong with my hard drive? (switched hard drive from computer with broken disk drive, to pc with broken hard drive, and getting same error)

[Isiolia]

Apparently there are some software issues that can cause it. Some of them are solved with this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/EN-US/ or similar. Other suggestions are searching for afs.sys or afs2k.sys and renaming them (they conflict with cdrom.sys), and running the Sony DRM uninstaller.

iTunes can cause that, and some other disc-burning related software. Could also verify it with a bootable CD or something too. Clean install of Windows should fix it too >_>

Is your girlfriend's PC using the right resolution with large fonts, or is it just running at a low resolution due to not having the right video driver installed? Even with the same general model there may be optional hardware like that.

[Skie]

im thinking a wipe would work best. worried about re-installing the bios though thats only part i cant remember exactly how to do (i dont have the disk)

btw how can i back up my itunes library i dont wanna lose all the songs i bought.

also found afs.sys and renamed it.... didnt fix the problem.

[Isiolia]

You shouldn't need to reinstall the BIOS, as that's on an EEPROM on the motherboard.

Other drivers should be on Alienware/Dell's site.

Your iTunes library is normally located at \My Documents\My Music\iTunes, unless you put it somewhere else.

[Skie]

now... how the hell do i wipe it without puting the cd in lol.

[Isiolia]

Presumably, if it's a Windows problem, the drive should work at boot just fine. Most laptops just have a key to hit during boot to get a list of options (Dells are F12, so that may carry over to your Alienware).