CD Problem

[Antares 531]

Relic is your guide with the Controller/s. I'm still waiting to hear
what drivers you have listed for the drive.

Ed

P.S. You'd gain some valuable insight if you tried to remember how long
this problem has been there, and what system amendments you made around
the time it went awry.

This CD drive has been working well until just a few days ago. I don't
remember the exact time/date that I first noticed a problem, but it
was last week, sometime...I think it was Wednesday afternoon, about
5:00 PM.

The info about drivers:

Provider: Microsoft Corp.
Driver Date: 6/21/06
File Version: 6/1/7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255)

I have gone through the process of updating the driver but always get
the notice that there is no newer driver version available.

Gordon

 

[Antares 531]

Relic is your guide with the Controller/s. I'm still waiting to hear
what drivers you have listed for the drive.

Ed

P.S. You'd gain some valuable insight if you tried to remember how long
this problem has been there, and what system amendments you made around
the time it went awry.

I've not made any system changes, other than automatic updates.

 

[Shoe]

This must be the problem. I plan to go to Best Buy this afternoon and
buy a new CD drive. Then if this doesn't solve the problem I'll have a
spare on hand, anyway.

I'm not settled, yet, as to what brand, type of CD drive I should buy.
I really don't need the extended functions of a DVD+R drive, but I do
have a new pack of those CDs on hand.

I think nearly all of them now handle both CD's and DVD's. The issue
now is whether to spring for a Blu-Ray drive. I decided not to do
that just yet. PC magazines seem to like Samsung. That is what I
ordered.

 

[Paul]

It just may be that his "write" laser is just defective. That
particular laser doesn't read.
The "write" laser takes more power and according to Murphys Law, most
likely to fail.

The principle of how a CD/DVD works, is described here.

http://www.maxim-ic.com/app-notes/index.mvp/id/2947

The CD uses one laser. The DVD uses the other laser. Two lasers
total on a CD/DVD drive. As far as I know, once one of the
lasers is selected, it's used for everything with that piece
of media. Since writing requires highest light output, a
performance deviation on the laser should first show up as
flaky recording.

The laser driver chip can be connected to the CD laser,
or to the DVD laser, but not both at the same time. The diagram
on that page, shows a two position switch, so that the output
of the summing block, goes to either one laser or the other.
When you insert media, the drive may have to probe with
both lasers for a short period of time (one at a time),
to get a handle on what kind of media is installed.

The power level to the laser, varies when you're writing
with the laser. This diagram is intended to show writing.

http://www.maxim-ic.com/images/appnotes/2947/2947Fig01.gif

They don't have a diagram for reading. According to the text
on that page, when the *same* laser is used to read, it
is modulated with a sine wave coming from an RF oscillator.
(The power level should be less than the power level to
erase or write.) A possible reason for doing it that way, might be
for synchronous amplification of the returned photodiode
signal. For example, in this figure

http://www.maxim-ic.com/images/appnotes/2947/2947Fig04.gif

the RF amplifier on the right, used for reading, could
be a "tuned" amplifier (perhaps a trans-impedance amplifier)
that only responds to a signal in a certain narrow frequency range.
That avoids competition from stray light sources. The RF amplifier
on the right, would operate at the same frequency as
the RF oscillator shown in figure 3.

*******

This is a datasheet for a similar device. The figures near the
end of the document, show how reading and writing are a
continuum. The read current from the RF oscillator, is at
around 375MHz.

http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/zarlinksemiconductor/zarlink_ZL40514_FEB_04.pdf

*******

Blu Ray would need a third laser. Each tech has different
optical requirements.

http://www.tgdaily.com/files/images...dvd_blu-ray_read_write_method_comparisons.jpg

Paul

 

[relic]

Getting closer, maybe? I just looked into Device Manager > IDE
ATA/ATAPI controllers and found 9 entries, many of them seem to be
duplicates. I've listed them below. Should I delete the duplicates? If
not, which ones should I delete?

ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 1
ATA Channel 1
ATA Channel 1
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

If you'll expand the CD/DVD tree too (so you can see your BD-ROM), delete
the last three (Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller) one at a time
until your BD-ROM drive disappears. Then reboot.

 

[relic]

If you'll expand the CD/DVD tree too (so you can see your BD-ROM), delete
the last three (Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller) one at a time
until your BD-ROM drive disappears. Then reboot.

If the problem still exists after Windows reinstalls all the drivers, then
it's time to try a new drive.

(If you're going to copy BluRay discs, get a BD-RW instead of the read-only
BD-ROM. They have come way down in price. Plextor's are the best, but
they're still pricy compared to Samsung, LG, etc..)

 

[Ed Cryer]

This CD drive has been working well until just a few days ago. I don't
remember the exact time/date that I first noticed a problem, but it
was last week, sometime...I think it was Wednesday afternoon, about
5:00 PM.

The info about drivers:

Provider: Microsoft Corp.
Driver Date: 6/21/06
File Version: 6/1/7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255)

I have gone through the process of updating the driver but always get
the notice that there is no newer driver version available.

Gordon

You were very close there; but stumbled at the last hurdle.
On the very box where you got the details and hit "update driver", just
hit "driver details". Those are the ones we need to see.

Ed

 

[Ed Cryer]

This CD drive has been working well until just a few days ago. I don't
remember the exact time/date that I first noticed a problem, but it
was last week, sometime...I think it was Wednesday afternoon, about
5:00 PM.

The info about drivers:

Provider: Microsoft Corp.
Driver Date: 6/21/06
File Version: 6/1/7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255)

I have gone through the process of updating the driver but always get
the notice that there is no newer driver version available.

Gordon

Driver date 6/21/06??? And no newer ones?
Was Windows 7 out back then?

Ed

 

[Antares 531]

I have another problem with my Windows 7 computer. It has a BlueRay
DVD ROM Compact Disk drive that has worked very well since I got this
computer about a year ago.

Recently, this CD Drive won't let me burn any files onto the disc. It
will still play music CDs, or let me open files that already exist on
a CD, but there is no option that I can find that will let me step
through the process of burning new files onto a blank CD.

When I open my Windows Explorer pane I see this CD drive listed as
BD-ROM Drive E. If I left click on it the "Insert a disc" pop-up opens
and a small "go around in circles" ring shows up on the screen. The
progress bar at the top shows a green bar progressing from left to
right, but no matter how long I wait, nothing more happens.

I've tried this with both CD-R and DVD+R new, blank CDs, but the drive
simply does not recognize a blank CD. I get the message, "Insert a CD"
but when I do it does not recognize it.

If I put a CD in with files already on it, I can do the above and see
a list of the files on this CD, then work with them in a completely
normal way, other than writing anything new to this CD.

Any ideas, anyone. Gordon

Problem resolved! I borrowed a drive of the exact same make and model
number from a friend's computer and installed it in my computer. It
works exactly as it should. Now I will try the defective drive in his
computer and see if the failure to write shows up.

I'm convinced that the problem was a write laser failure in this CD
drive.

Gordon

 

[Nil]

Problem resolved! I borrowed a drive of the exact same make and
model number from a friend's computer and installed it in my
computer. It works exactly as it should. Now I will try the
defective drive in his computer and see if the failure to write
shows up.

I suggested you do that two days ago.

 

[Antares 531]

I suggested you do that two days ago.

I know, but it took a while to find a CD drive like my failed one that
I could swap.

 

[Char Jackson]

The info about drivers:

Provider: Microsoft Corp.
Driver Date: 6/21/06
File Version: 6/1/7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255)

I have gone through the process of updating the driver but always get
the notice that there is no newer driver version available.

Gordon

You should be fine regarding drivers. I build systems for people as a
second job and haven't installed a CD/DVD driver since the Windows 3.1
days.

 

[Char Jackson]

You should be fine regarding drivers. I build systems for people as a
second job and haven't installed a CD/DVD driver since the Windows 3.1
days.

Ahem, I may have been exaggerating just a bit there, but it's been a
long time, nevertheless.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Ahem, I may have been exaggerating just a bit there, but it's been a
long time, nevertheless.

You ought to run DriverBoost and see how many out-of-date drivers you have.

Ed -

 

[Char Jackson]

You ought to run DriverBoost and see how many out-of-date drivers you have.

Ed -

Thanks, but I'll pass on that.

OTOH, I do recommend Secunia Personal Software Inspector. It's
directed more toward keeping applications up to date.

 

[Stan Brown]

See my post above where I explain how you can see that you removed the
correct controller.

I see where you advise removing all of them to be sure of getting the
correct one, but I don't see anywhere that you explained how to
identify the correct one and remove only it.

Perhaps that article never made it to my server?

 

[Stan Brown]

Antares 531 wrote:

There is also the possibility that the "write" laser is burned out. The
read laser is not the one that does the writing, IRC. So you may have
to get a new CD burner. I couldn't find any diagnostic programs for
that model.

Is that correct, different lasers for read and write? I thought there
was one laser for CD read/write and one for DVD read/write.

So are there four, or is it one for CD/DVD read and one for CD/DVD
write? What about a Bluray-capable drive?

 

[Tester]

Is that correct, different lasers for read and write? I thought there
was one laser for CD read/write and one for DVD read/write.

So are there four, or is it one for CD/DVD read and one for CD/DVD
write? What about a Bluray-capable drive?

No this is not correct. Laser technology is based on light diffraction
technology. The working definition of diffraction is:

"Diffraction of light is the bending of light waves around an object.
The amount of light diffracted or which changes direction is dependent
on an object's size. This also applies to light waves that pass through
an opening, such as the aperture of a camera or through the pupil of an
eye. As light waves pass around the edge of an object or through an
opening, light is diffracted or broken into the colours of the rainbow."

This angle of diffraction is based on the number of groves on the
surface of the object. CDs have less than DVDs. DVDs have less than
Blue Ray.

Hope this gives you a starting point to do your own research on this
topic if it is of any interest to you. You could see the groves and the
colours by shining your CDs, DVDs and Blue Ray disks in a white light or
using the laser pen if you have one. We've done this in the labs at
high school.

Good luck.

 

[Char Jackson]

Is that correct, different lasers for read and write? I thought there
was one laser for CD read/write and one for DVD read/write.

So are there four, or is it one for CD/DVD read and one for CD/DVD
write? What about a Bluray-capable drive?

My understanding parallels what Paul posted in this thread. Everything
I've read over the years says that there is a single laser for CD and
a second laser for DVD, and I presume a third for BluRay. The
difference between read and write operations is the power applied to
the laser.

 

[relic]

I see where you advise removing all of them to be sure of getting the
correct one, but I don't see anywhere that you explained how to
identify the correct one and remove only it.

Perhaps that article never made it to my server?

This part: