Internal LG DVD burner drive, all of a sudden not functioning

[ryangarfield]

Not sure what to make of this, after two years of great performance, all of a sudden one day my drive no longer burns or reads dvds. Possibly something wrong with the drivers? Any help would be great, thanks guys.

[redwudz]

Does it 'sound' like it's spinning up and seeking? Or does it just pop out the disc as soon as you load it? What error shows? Same media you have been using successfully? Will it read commercial DVDs? Will it read CDs?

I doubt the drivers spontaneously failed, although anything is possible. Did you add any program or software that would affect the burner?

I can't suggest much else except checking for dirt on the laser lens.

Or maybe it was just it's time to die.

[ozymango]

Like redwudz said, this might just have been its time to go.



When my beloved $300 Plextor drive died (sniff), it did so right after burning -- flawlessly -- a CD for a friend. The disc ejected as per the usual "end of burning" part of the software, I reinserted the disc, and ... it just sat there, spinning, telling me, "No disc in drive."

So I ejected, figuring a bad burn, popped in a new blank, and still, "No disc in drive."

Tried with a commercial CD. "No disc in drive."



I tried flashing the drive, I updated the drivers, I poured chicken blood on the keyboard -- nothing, nada, zip. And it was a Friday! No burner for an entire weekend!! Talk about painful.

But I'm too cheap to shop retail so I ordered a new drive from Newegg, for about $50 (including shipping!) and the moral of the story is ... well, I dunno, maybe something useful in there. But yeah drives die and it sucks.

[ryangarfield]

Its just as ozymango describes, no error message or anything, the drive just keeps spinning the disc (burnt, commercial, whatever) and the little light keeps blinking as if its loading, yet it always comes up as no disc in drive. I can't think of any programs that would have affected it. I guess maybe it is just time for a new one. Sucks tho since its just so sudden...I didn't even have time to say goodbye!

[oldandinthe way]

Certainly quite plausible for a 2 year old LG drive to die.

In my experience they offer some warning. Some additional life might be eked out by cleaning the drive. When my beloved 4163 dies it telegraphed its intention by periodically recovering from its coma when I cleaned it. Sometimes reading a CD revived it.

If it isn't dead it is certainly terminally ill. Try a cleaning, try a CD. It might help a bit.

[redwudz]

I'd go for a cleaning try also.

I had a Apex 1500 set top DVD player that would play anything. Great player. It died with a disc in it.
Wouldn't eject or anything. I finally pulled off the cover and it had shoved the DVD disc halfway out the back of the drive assembly. Neither the drive or the disc survived. Better to go in style than to linger on.

I still miss it.

[guns1inger]

Why are people so surprised or unwilling to accept that hardware fails. Especially cheap commodity type hardware like peripherals. They are simple not designed to last, in part to keep up updating, but mostly to keep costs down. I always find it ironic that so many people will spend far more in their own man hours trying to avoid the inevitable truth that their device is dead than it would cost to simply replace the device and move on.

As for you weirdo's that have un-natural emotional attachments to your hardware - sad, very sad.

[redwudz]

Hey, I never had any un-natural attachments to my Apex. BTW, the services were wonderful. The flowers, ..... But I digress. I would try a cleaning, then toss it.

Sorry, ryangarfield, just ignore parts of our humor. But guns1inger has a good point. I wouldn't devote much time to the unit. Considering DVD drives used to cost $500 just a few years ago, they are a bargain now, even if they don't last too long.

[hech54]

My LG4040B is a lot older than two years and it's still kicking. The tray or tray button sticks a bit and requires repeated PRESSING to get it to do what you want...but it's still going.
My LG4167B it right above it so...."no worries"....

I'd clean the spinning drive once or twice but other than that...you may wanna search for a replacement.

[ryangarfield]

Well wouldn't you know it. I go out and buy a new burner and once its installed the old one decides to start working again. I figure I only spent 40 bucks on the new one, so it doesn't hurt to have two. This could have just been a warning I suppose to signal that its time actually is drawing near. Anyways I appreciate everybody's input as always, reassures me that this board is my one stop for the answers to all my questions, not only video but all of life's little questions.

[redwudz]

Best wishes with your new drive.