I've got an LG GH22NS30 DVD writer & SONY CRX320EE(RYK1) combo drive. Last week I updated the firmware on the LG model to ver 2.0 but since then it become sluggish & now I can't read/write any sort of a CD/DVD on it. The other drive also doesn't seem to work for no reason after I switched to win7 from xp. Now :- 1) Is there anyway to check for driver or other software level errors before opening up the drive for repair ? Did the firmware update made that LG drive malfunction or is it some hardware trouble ? 2) Does an old drive like the SONY model(2005) not work with win7 OR it may have reached the end of its lifetime, anyway to check that ?
Sometimes the obvious is overlooked (I´m talking about my recent experience with an LG combo). The LG stop working suddenly and I tried updating the drive (didn´t work), updated the firmware (didn´t work either), check all connections (all of them were tight), checked and even changed BIOS set up (didn´t work). So I was convinced that I needed a new optical unit, but my wife suggested just a clean up of the lenses, and....... it did work! It only took a cotton swab and a little of alcohol.
I set the region code to 5(initially no region code was there) hoping it'll solve the problem of sluggish performance(after upgrading to firmware ver 2.0) but after that the drive doesn't recognize any optical media now even data discs(made when no region code was present) ! I've looked for a custom firmware to reset RPC-2 but couldn't find one. So I wanna make sure that everything at my end hasn't lead to that problem before I look for specific/internal hardware issues so it doesn't recur in the future. Does changing/setting region codes render drives unusable(at times) ? luiggi Thanks will give it a try after I solve this region code problem.
Some (if not all dvd drives) allow a limited number of region changes, when this limit is reached the drive gets stuck in the last region, but it´s still operational.
Have you tried going into device manager and removing the drivers for cdroms. Windows will reinstall them
YES still no luck though BTW I'm having a high level of DPC & hardware interrupt activity when I insert a disc into the drive(LG) which suggests that there might be some driver problem(maybe DMA conflict as well) OR the drive needs a repair !
You have a few options try the drive in another machine if possible and i woud reflash with original unpatched firmware try that seems strange both drives not working in saying that the sony is quite old not sure about the LG.