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General discussion

Vista laptop won't read burnt CD or DVD

Feb 28, 2011 5:57PM PST

My TOSHIBA laptop (Satelite A200 preloaded with Vista Home Premium 6.0.6002 service pack 2)can't read mp3 cd (burnt with Nero6 on WindowsXP os)or movie dvd (burnt on laptop with Windows 7 os). But readily plays mp3 cd and dvd movies purchased from market.
Under CD/DVD ROM drives the Device Manager shows "TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-L632D ATA Device"
Please help.
One more thing: laptop was purchased in UAE which is in region 5 of Toshiba, while it is being used in India (region 2 of Toshiba). Tried to change the region, but it won't. Could this also be contributing to my trouble?

Discussion is locked

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Re: problems reading CD or DVD
Feb 28, 2011 6:11PM PST

I'd try an external drive first. If that works, another internal drive.

Kees

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Unlikely
Feb 28, 2011 10:08PM PST

Unlikely, and actually those regions are set by the entertainment industry here in the states. Region 1 is North America, Region 2 is Western Europe, and so on. Toshiba has nothing to do with it. But unless you burned a region coded disc, which seems highly unlikely, then it has nothing to do with your problem.

It sounds like a simple case of the drive having given out. It might also just be that the drive is picky about recordable media. I work as a repair tech, and I had a system keep coming back 2-3 times because the person kept claiming that the optical drive wouldn't read burned media. Long story short, I traced it to the drive being fine, it just didn't like some cheap low quality discs that the customer was using. Not all recordable CDs and DVDs are created equal. Some are MUCH better quality than others, and it really depends on who made the actual disc. There's only about 5 companies that make all the blank CDs and DVDs in the world, other companies just contract with them to have their name slapped on them. Depending on the chemical used to coat the recordable surface, you will have better or worse results. Some drives, especially older ones, get kind of cranky and don't like low quality media.

So the first thing I'd try is a different brand of burnable CD/DVD. If that doesn't work, then if you can get your hands on an external drive, that would be an excellent next step. Ultimately though, odds are the laser on your internal drive is starting to go out and you'll have to have it replaced. Shouldn't be too expensive all told. I have no idea what the conversion rate is between USD and Indian Rupees, but the drive itself would probably cost in the area of $100US. If you do it yourself, obviously the labor's free, otherwise figure on some amount of money for labor fees as well.