Friday 23 April 2010

DVD Combo drive reads DVD won't read CD

If anyone knows how to solve a problem where a DVD/ CD drive reads DVDs but not CDs - it will go on trying to read a CD endlessly - I'd be grateful. Some help websites say clean the lens reader with cotton buds and alcohol, but in a different but also Windows XP machine all the DVD CD drive worked. One advice file said if you find PxHelp20.sys in the registry remove it, but I did not find this. Other advice files say this is a common problem, the end. I do have now a dedicated CD drive, which managed to disappear, but a visual basic file I copied and correctly labelled to click on proved the means to get it back.

A visual clue is my drop down menus have gone to black not blue and lost some 3D effect.

A point seems to be coming for a full Windows XP reinstall, which is a mountain of work to reinstall programs and restore data. What a nuisance.

DVD Combo drive reads DVD won't read CD.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The operating system is corrupted and needs to be re-installed.

Good luck!

Chris C said...

Hi Adrian,

Combi drives are just that - it's two drives in one, containing two lasers. It's possible that this is a failure of the CD laser. One way to check would be to try to boot the computer from a Windows CD - if the BIOS can read the disk then you know it's not a problem with the operating system (and thus is probably a hardware problem).

- Chris

Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold) said...

I thought. How can I get up to date comment. It's amazing. So thanks. Most reliable advice is that the operating system has somehow slipped. I have just 'got back' the 3D effect plus blue of menus (classic appearance) and their slippage suggested OS error. But there is no virus, malware etc. detected.