Computer Gurus

[thestinker]

OK....whenI put a cd (audio or program) in the CD drive nothing happens....but if I rebbot the pc with the cd in the drive it will recognise the cd and install programs or play music or whatever....any ideas?

Riley

[TheRic]

First what operating system?

Sounds like the auto detect is disabled.

[thestinker]

I'm running XP on an HP laptop. Since it seems to work when booting up I didn't think it was the drive dying, but I know just enough about computers to royaly lock them up....that and to keep the virus protection up, but thats it.

RS

[sparkeyjames]

Yup sounds like the autoplay is disabled. Either that or the association of music CD to autoplay is messed up. No need to reboot just go to my computer and find the CD drive and then RIGHT mouse button click on that to bring up a menu on that menu find autoplay and click it. I do a general disable of autoplay with my XP box because I tend to put in a lot of data cd's and don't want to have them autoplay.

[headhunter636]

One more question though, when you put the CD in does it show up in My Computer? Or do you have to reboot to even see it?

Dave

[crokett]

One more question though, when you put the CD in does it show up in My Computer? Or do you have to reboot to even see it?

Dave

This is what I was going to ask.

[thestinker]

As far as the autoplay function being checked....I think it is, but I'm not sure. But no the disk doesn't show up on the desktop, my computer, and if you click on the CD drive Icon inside my computer it just brings up a blank screen like nothing is in the drive....

[LinuxRandal]

Since you said this is in a laptop, is this one that is removable to place other items (floppy or battery) in it's compartment?

[thestinker]

I wouldn't think its removable...its on the right side of the computer betweeem the wireless card slot and the memory card (SD type) card slot. Its a HP pavilion zd7000 if it helps any.

RS

[LinuxRandal]

I'm running XP on an HP laptop. Since it seems to work when booting up I didn't think it was the drive dying, but I know just enough about computers to royaly lock them up....that and to keep the virus protection up, but thats it.

RS

This is why WE need to be careful about advice. You could ROYALLY screw this up. It could be a registry issue (above your comfort level), or something simple (comparatively) as the wires to the drive coming loose (still not where your comfortable with).
Back your stuff up first. (favorites, email, files, etc...) Do you remember the last time it worked? You might try the go back feature (don't run Windows, don't know where it's at). If it's a software issue, and that doesn't do it, unfortunately the easiest thing for you would be to restore it to original, then load your backup stuff a piece at a time to make sure nothing affects it.
Hopefully someone has some better advice.

[radhak]

While i think of some constructive way to help, i'd only add a note to LR's post : keep all changes to the OS / registry as the last resort. Many (most) times it adds more problems.

Dunno that specific model, but most of these CD drives would be removable with just a turn of a screw or a toggle lock. But if recognizes/reads the CD on reboot then the connections should not be an issue.

Even if you ignore the non-functioning autoplay, if it does not show contents of the CD there's some bigger problem. Once rebooted (and when you see the CD), if you replace it with another CD are you able to see the contents? I'd check that with a data/program CD.

[sparkeyjames]

After doing a little research on your model it looks pretty modular. ie easily replaceable. Big problem is if it is a DVDwriter/DVDROM/cdrw/cdrom the price for a replacement is STEEP. The HP brand part is $306 at this link... http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/H...DVD-CDRWs.aspx
An off brand replacement is at the following link for a lot less $119(tray load), but I would suspect the quality as the drive manufacturer is not specified. This is also a dvd writer as well. http://www.bixnet.com/insldvcodr.html Get the slot loader (+ $10) if you go for this option.
EDIT: Yet another link for what is claimed to be an HP drive DVDwriter/DVDrom/CDRW/CDROM $154. http://www.lapzone.com/servlet/the-4...otebook/Detail

Before you replace it try this. Remove the drive and blow out the slot and the connectors on the CD drive with some canned compressed air. Don't use your air compressor unless you have inline moisture removal. Then reinsert it and reboot without a CD in the drive. After reboot is complete then insert a CD and see if it gets recognized.

I have a laptop (dell) that at one time had the DVDROM/CD drive acting up. I merely unplugged (with the power off and disconnected) it and reinserted it into its slot. This cleared up the problem. Until about a year later when it had a catastrophic failure and I replaced it with a DVDROM/cdrw the replacement for mine was thankfully on sale at $199 that was 3 years ago.

sparkeyjames

[gwyneth]

Get to know this site. Although this page looks like the most helpful to start for your particular issue, the HP site is a must for anybody who owns any HP product.

Lots of times, they actually have answers and easy ways to fix things.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...148894&lang=en
CD/DVD-Rom and discs HP Pavilion zd7000 CTO Notebook PC

[thestinker]

gwyneth-

Thanks for the site....I bookmarked that for future refrence.

sparkeyjames-

Thanks for the drive links...bookmarked also.

I delteated the drivers and reinstalled them, and that fixed it for a while, but its back acting up again. So, I really don't know. The machine is getting old....almost 4 years so its getting time to replace it pretty soon with something newer. I could prabably do a reinstall of everything and that would help, and I am contemplating buying an external dvd/cd rom drive. Does anyone have any exp with these....

RS