Device I/O error - optical drive

[Kaido]

I'm upgrading a friend's computer and the optical drive is having issues. It hasn't read any CDs in awhile. I checked the cables and everything is fine, but it wouldn't read any discs. I tried swapping cables and even optical drives, but it didn't work. Maybe a motherboard problem? I haven't run into this one with optical drives before.

 

[Ctrackstar126]

did you update the firmware?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Ctrackstar126
did you update the firmware?

I'll give that a shot. I did some googling and M$ recommended switching into PIO mode; this made it so that clicking on the CD icon showed the disc contents but then it wouldn't actually read any of the files. So firmware update, a fresh Windows install, and a lot of praying are on my plate 😉

 

[Bozo Galora]

Without any info whatsoever (dont even know if its a DVD/CDR) on he drive I would say the following:

CDs and DVDs use differnt wavelengths of lasers. Could be that the laser for the CD functions is malfunctioning.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Without any info whatsoever (dont even know if its a DVD/CDR) on he drive I would say the following:

CDs and DVDs use differnt wavelengths of lasers. Could be that the laser for the CD functions is malfunctioning.

First one was a stock Compaq CD-RW, second one was a BenQ DVD burner I pulled working from another system. I also tried swapping IDE cables; I believe it's a motherboard problem. I need to hunt down the BIOS for the machine.