[martin_fierro]

the LG DRN-8080B DVD-ROM win't read software discs. It also won't read music CD's, but it will play DVD's.

Maybe there's a physical problem with the drive?

But then it's a Dell. 'Nuff said.

[acad1228]

I just wanted to ping all of you to this to see if anyone has a solution short of buying another CD-ROM. I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks,

acad

[Terpfen]

Off the top of my head, it's either a defective laser, or you need a firmware update. A defective laser is beyond your control, but you can check Dell's support website for the relevant firmware, if it exists.

[far rider]

Sounds like your drive is going bad.

At this point I would replace it, even if it still works for some things. It's only a matter of time.

[StarCMC]

Good luck Acad -- I am no help, but I hope you get it figued out. As you can plainly see, I am having a keyboad poblem. One of my keys won't wok. I'm taking it to my dad today and begging fo help! LMBO!!!

*HUGS!*

[RightOnline]

Sounds like your DVD player software is fine, but overall......I suspect a s/w issue more than a hardware issue.

If it's an older system but still "a keeper", do two thing: #1: add more memory; the single best quick-fix for improving performance on almost any system (try www.kahlon.com or www.memoryup.com ; they're the best for online memory purchases), and #2: upgrade to Windows XP (AFTER you've added more memory; I recommend a minimum of 512MB; preferrably 1GB).

[Servant of the 9]

Sounds more like the software for playing DVDs is loading automatically at boot and won't release the drive to other uses.
I remember a problem like that with win 2000 and WinDVD, because playing DVDs is not a native capability of Win2000, but an add-on program.

Go to Task Manager and look under both Applications and under Processes to make sure a DVD playing program isn't running.

So9

[El Gran Salseron]

http://www.cdrom-drivers.com/drivers/61/61134.htm

[El Gran Salseron]

Drivers and firmware:

http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=61134

[El Gran Salseron]

Please give more info:

Are you trying to get it to read in win2k or a dos prompt using the win2k startup cd?

If it is a win2k driver issue then perhaps trying to read the cd from a dos prompt, which win2k uses when booting directly to the cd on startup, may read the drive ok.

If not, then get a win98 startup diskette and startup the laptop with that diskette and see if it'll read the drive from a win98 dos prompt.

If it won't read from win2k, win2k startup cd or win98 startup diskette then more than likely the laser reader on the drive has a little bit of dust on it. I've successfully cleaned the laser before but success rate is only 50 - 75%.

[Cold Heat]

IIRC, that laptop was sold with a interchangeable drive slot.

I used to have one and I had three drives for it, a floppy, a CD burner/reader and a DVD Rom.

You can't read most CDs with the old DVD only reader. You need to buy a CD drive....Or get one out of a junk pile.

[Senator Bedfellow]

DVD ROM drivers are built into Windows 2000 - you shouldn't need a new one. Have you tried uninstalling the drive and rebooting? That'll force it to reinstall the driver.

[Rose in RoseBear]

Okay ...

You have a very old portable computer; it's the first one Dell made that had a DVD player on it.

If the CDs that you've tried in the drive are burned --- as opposed to commercial --- try a commercially-pressed CD in the drive. If a commercially-manufactured music CD or commercially-manufactured software CD (Office, Quicken, a game, anything) works in the drive, then the drive is just fine. A lot of older optical drives don't like burned CDs.

Next, have you reseated the drive? That drive comes out of that computer; do you know how to remove it? If you don't, look here, under "Using The Computer" for a (poor) diagram. Turn the computer off, unplug the computer, remove the battery, and then remove the DVD drive. Take a look, see if any of the contacts are bent or broken or burnt; if they look all right, push the drive back in the computer, latch it down, put the battery back in, plug in the ACAdapter, and turn it back on.

Now, if the drive still doesn't read commercial CDs, it could be the drive needs to have its firmware upgraded. If you have a Toshiba 8x DVD drive, there is a flash available on Dell's website, under Firmware. If you don't have a Toshiba drive, don't use this flash. To find out if you have a Toshiba drive:

• Right-click on the My Computer icon;
• Left-click on Properties (at the bottom of the pop-up menu);
• Left-click on the Hardware tab;
• Left-click on the Device Manager button (it's in the middle of the window).

Find your DVD drive. Device Manager gives the model.

Also, you probably need to update your BIOS. That's available at the same place, under FlashBIOS Updates.

If it still doesn't work, you may indeed have a bad laser. You may also have a software glitch. If you have access to another Inspiron 7500, try swapping drives; if you don't have another one, you can try to hook up an external drive, but most of those external drives are USB2.0, and the connector on the Inspiron 7500 has a four-pin UNpowered USB 1.0 connector. If you try an external drive, make sure the drive has its own power source, or try the external drive with a powered USB 2.0 hub.