dvd rom won't read

Hi Horozovic,

It is possible the DVD-ROM may be failing, this can at times cause odd issues with the second drive attached on the same IDE cable.
Lets run a couple of articles just to cover drivers: click on the CD/RW link in my post and scroll to Section 15, article 1; Section 20, article 3.
If this does not help, same CD/RW link, Section 12, article 3, step #2 from Dell. This will test the drive. If it fails and you are still under warranty, contact Dell.
If out of warranty, Go to Device Manager, select the DVD-ROM and click uninstall, shutdown, open the case and disconnect the DVD-ROM from the IDE cable. If it is attached to the "End" connection of the IDE cable, unplug the middle connection to your DVD/RW and place the "end" connection on this drive (DVD/RW), turn the system on. Does the DVD/RW work now?


Best Regards!




God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.
CD/RW Link

Thanks very much for your help Predator.  I have tried those first two steps and have gotten good, but kinda weird results.  You see what happened was when i finished your steps i put in an original storebought dvd into the rom drive it worked fine.  But when i tried one of my many burned dvds it started, froze up, played it like a slideshow, froze up again, and stopped responding.  I am happy that i got it to at least play original dvds.  For some reason i can put burned copies into the burner and the burner will play it just fine.  As far as burning a dvd i just found out that my burning software (Recordnow) lets me burn a dvd using just my burner by putting in a disc taking it out and burning the contents of the previous disc to the new one.  Now that i got my dvd rom drive to play im starting to think its not really worth it to contact dell, especially when my burner can play the burned movies i have.  Oh well.  It is kinda weird that my dvd rom drive won't play my burned movies, when i know it used to play them, but even when it did there were some burned discs that it still couldnt play, it's just now it cant play any.  Once again, thanks for your help!!

Hi Horozovic,

It is possible the DVD-ROM may need a firmware update to read the writeable DVD media properly. The big question is, did Dell release one?
If you would please list the name/model of the drive, someone should be able to check for you.

Best Regards,
Jeff

Hi Horozovic,

I have seen firmware updates breath new life into what seemed like a dieing drive.
Here is the firmware if you wish to try it:

JLMS 166


Best Regards!




God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

---

CD/RW Link

Hello Predator,

Thank you for your help.  I tried updating the firmware.   For a while it looked like it was going to work because it took a little longer for the message "Please insert a disc into drive D" to appear.  But like before it appeared and right then i knew that my dvd rom drive still couldnt read writable dvd media.  We contacted Dell afterwards, and they went through EXACTLY what you told us to do.  After recompleting all the troubleshooting,  Dell has determined that our drive is faulty and said they will replace it.  Again, thanks very much. 

Glad to hear the news my friend.

Good luck with the new drive!

Jeff