DVD-rom won't read any type of disc

[mittene]

The last thing that my dvd-rom was able to read was an Adobe Acrobat installer disc.

The dvd-rom is an HP: jlms dvd-rom ltd-166s
I'm using Windows XP

I've tried cleaning the lens with a lens-cleaning disc, but I still can't get the drive to read any kind of disc. I can hear the drive spinning intermittently in attempt to read it, but it never does read it. Obvisoulsly I can't view the contents on the disc through windows explorer either.

The device manager is not showing any problems.

Did my drive die? I've barely use the thing. Thanks!

[photolady]

Check with HP to see if they have an updated firmware. And if the drive is very old (two to three years) it could very well be dead.

[mittene]

I checked the HP website, and it appears that there are no driver updates available on their site. Here is the link to the page - maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to find any drivers.

I also looked at the jlms firmware download page but I'm not sure that the one I need is there. I'm afraid trying to install the wrong driver.

I tried uninstalling the current driver, then rebooting, but that didn't help.

I've had the dvd-rom for about a year & a half, and as I've previously mentioned, I've hardly used it.

Any other ideas?

[photolady]

It's the first one in the download page, one that says XJ-HD166s, but before you do that, have you tried to see if there are any "ghost" installs in device manager through Safe Mode?

Restart your computer, tap the F8 key just after it shows the first screen, it should come up with a window that gives you the option to start in "Safe Mode", after it starts up in safe mode, go to My Computer, right click and scroll to Properties, click on the Hardware tab, and in the middle of that window click on Device manager. Click on the + sign beside DVD/CD-ROM drives. Remove any instances of your dvdrom drive, go to Start and restart your computer. Windows XP will reinstall you dvdrom drive.

[mittene]

I went through the steps in safe mode, but that didn't do the trick.

I then tried to install that driver, but I ended up with an error message saying that the driver was for the wrong dvd-rom.

[DrMDJ]

JLMS firmware is only for their (liteon) non-oem drive. The HP drive is an oem version of the ltd-166S, and the firmware for it is distributed through HP. HP's latest firmware for the drive is DPS7. However, since the drive just stopped reading all discs it seems unlikely a firmware update will change anything.

[photolady]

It's like DrM says, if it's stopped reading all discs, then it's a bet the drive is faulty.

btw, Doc, thanks for confirming what I was thinking, her firmware should come from HP.

[mittene]

Originally posted by DrMDJ
HP's latest firmware for the drive is DPS7. However, since the drive just stopped reading all discs it seems unlikely a firmware update will change anything.

I might try to find the firmware as a last resort, but my suspicion was the same. Since it had been just fine one day, and not working the next I thought it was most likely a hardware issue.

Thanks to the both of you for your help.