HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B
*Tangent* After scouring the web looking for a solution to this
problem, and I bet you this must be the case and problem for many an
optical drive owner, regardless of brand or function (CD-ROM, DVD ROM,
CD Writer, DVD Writer, Combo CD Writer / DVD ROM) but after busting my
head trying to find the solution, some clever thinking solved the
problem, where published articles on the web did not:
LG DVD Writer (HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B) no longer recognizes discs and no longer burns DVDs or CDs
So
you have a DVD burner that, for the longest time, properly burnt discs
and aided you in archiving absolutely everything that has ever been
important in your life, and now, all of a sudden on a whim, the drive
no longer recognizes discs (when placing a disc with data on the tray
and closing it, Windows Explorer changes the label of the drive from a
DVD-RAM Drive to a CD Drive and any efforts to view the contents of the
disc produce the mocking-error message "Please insert a disc into drive
X:" Furthermore, in Nero Xpress, Nero Burning Rom or Nero SmartStart,
the screen inviting you to set burn speed, set a disc volume label,
toggle MultiSession Disc or toggle Finalize Disc has a nice bright lit
illuminated "Burn" label button inviting you to proceed, but any
attempts to place a blank CD-R / DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, whatever, into
the disc tray and closing it fades out the "Burn" button and never
illuminates it again unless the disc in the drive is ejected. This, of
course, is irregardless of the disc access light blinking its friendly
green accessing-goodness-message and coming to a stop as if everything
was peachy upon first closing the disc tray.)
*Tangent* The few
times this had occurred to me in the past (with completely different
computers and computer configurations save the same DVD Burner drive) I
would often start disabling and enabling drives in Windows Device
Manager, and if that didn't work, deleting drive drivers in Windows
Device Manager followed by rebooting and auto-reinstalling, and if that
didn't work, disabling drives in the system's BIOS, and if that didn't
work, fiddling with the power supply power leads and IDE interface
ribbon cables and jumper settings (from master to slave to cable
select) until finally the damn thing would kick in and start operating
again. This time around though, nothing was working out. It had been
two days of fiddling and the damn drive would not come back to me. I
had even undone all the bindings of my drives in my PC case and tried
the unit in other machines with the same result, and also tried it in a
true MS-DOS environment using a CD ROM driver and MSCDEX with the same
result. What this indicated to me was that, contrary to what many of
the articles say online, that the problem is not software based like
many would lead you to believe, but rather hardware based.
I
read so many suggestions and not one of them sounded reasonable,
considering that the drive had given me years and volumes of successful
burns prior and I had already miraculously brought it back to life
before: I was suggested everything from flashing the drive's CMOS to
deleting lines in the system registry (regedit) to deleting and
installing new ATAPI drivers to installing VERY suspect and dodgy
executables that would miraculously fix things, to using different burn
programs, to changing IDE Interface Ribbon Cables to changing entire
power supplies, and my most hated suggestion of all, "the drive must be
broken, but drive's are cheap these days anyway, just buy a new one."
FOOLS! After careful elimination of possible causes, I ruled out
anything that was software, operating system, or BIOS-slash-motherboard
based. Sadly, unlike my pop, I know next to nothing about electronics,
so my last hope was that it was a mechanical problem. Since the drive
not being able to access standard discs with data on it was a clear
indication of the problem, I booted in a MS-DOS environment using a
Windows 98 Boot Disk, complete with CD-ROM support (these little f'ers
are trusty when you get into trouble.) I called up the drive letter for
my quote-unquote defective DVD Writer, placed the data disc in the
drive, closed the tray, ran a simple DIR command and waited for the
"device not ready" message. Once that came up (as expected), I ejected
the disc tray, walked to my Grand Mother's sewing room, got a good ol
sewing pin (no doubt created before the concept of home computers were
even fathomable) closed the disc tray once again, ran the DIR command
again, but this time, while the disc was trying to be accessed, I
pushed the pin into the little emergency tray release hole, forcing the
tray to eject just enough to grab onto with my fingernails. I then
simply pressed the standard electronic disc eject button again,
invoking a close of the tray, and low and behold, the directory
contents of the disc came up. I didn't even have to run additional
tests, I knew right then and there that the problem was a mechanical
one with the closing of the drive (perhaps the gears were no longer
coming into the proper position to place the motor hub onto the hole of
the disc or the laser eye became stuck in a position that did not
favour starting on the first track of the disc...who knows) Bottom line
is, the thing now works as it always did, as intended.
QUICK SET OF STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
Pre-Requisits:
Authentically pressed data disc that you do not care if it gets damaged
(like an old outdated driver disc, AOL access disc, etc.) and a pin
long and thin enough to get significant travel into the emergency
release eject hole located below the disc tray (safety pins are a good
choice, while thumbtacks and nails are not.)
1 - Boot PC with no disc in the troublesome drive
2 - Within operating system environment, open disc tray, place useless data disc on tray BUT DO NOT CLOSE TRAY
3
- Access a read function of the troublesome drive (in MS-DOS, navigate
to the drive letter assigned, close tray with disc and type DIR
or in Windows, double click My Computer, double click the troublesome
drive's letter until the "please insert disc into drive X:" message
comes up, and then close the tray with the disc
4 - While the disc
is attempting to be accessed, in a straight manner and with pressure,
push the pin into the emergency tray release eject hole until the tray
pushes out physically
5 - Close the tray by means of the standard electronic eject button on the drive
-Video Game Junkie
