Dell complaints

[Frustrated Dell Owner]

Why is it that in Device Manager my DVD drive is listed as
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD-GCC4481B and in MY Computer as DVD/CD-RW Drive? I have asked(the foreign) tech support about this till I'm blue in the face and can never get a straight answer. Any input would be welcome.


***Moved by paul_dellcc to My Shits Busted and I need help fixing it***
_________________
Frustrated Former Dell Customer

Running
Dell Deminsion 2400
Windows XP
Pentium 2.2 GHz
2 80 Gig Hard Drives
1 Gig of RAM
DVD/CD-RW
A Firewall
A Anti Virus Program

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

The designation in 'device manager' is simply more specific--that's not a discrepancy.

The fact that those designations appear tells us that two things are definitely working--the motherboard PATA channel, and the control & communications chip on the drive. That's all it tells us.

So, when you put a disc in, the listing in 'my computer' doesn't change? You can't read what you put in?

Do this: Quiet the room as much as possible. Put a disc in the drive and put your ear right up to it. If it goes z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-T then jigga jigga, it's reading the media. If it goes z-z-z-Z-Z-Z-z-z-oop over and over, it's NOT reading the media and the drive (laser itself most likely) is defective.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[Frustrated Dell Owner]

Nope it won't recognise a blank DVD
_________________
Frustrated Former Dell Customer

Running
Dell Deminsion 2400
Windows XP
Pentium 2.2 GHz
2 80 Gig Hard Drives
1 Gig of RAM
DVD/CD-RW
A Firewall
A Anti Virus Program

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

Oh, won't recognize a BLANK. 'My computer' and 'device manager' don't make that distinction.

So you're saying it READS media fine, but when you go to WRITE, the program you are using to write with doesn't see the blank? That's most likely the program you're using to write with. I've seen it happen, for undetermined reasons unrelated to hardware.

Uninstall and reinstall the burner program (or acquire another one, since you've already had problems with this one). You get about an 85% chance that it will work then. If you reinstall the same program and that fixes it, there's at least a 40% chance the problem will come back. The other 15% is, you would have to reinstall Windows or edit the registry very VERY skillfully.
_________________
Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[FallenAngel]

If it doesn't read blank media, or changes the designation from My Computer and/or Device Manager -- 99 times out of 100 it's to do with the registry keys that are associated with the device. You'll need to do a Google search for 'remove UPPERFILTERS' or 'remove LOWERFILTERS' and follow the directions carefully. I'd just post a link for you but this would be a great opportunity to hone your Googling skills.

Good luck, and hopefully you won't end up as the 1 of 100

[Frustrated Dell Owner]