DVD/CD Combo Drive

[sirbradders]

My DVD/CD Combo Drive thinks its just a dvd drive. it recognises dvd's but not audio cd's or cd rom games. Can anyone shed some light on this for me. Thank you

[Blencogo]

Hi sirbradders and welcome to Club Vaio.

You are not alone - there are a few similar posts recently. Unfortunately, none of them give a solution.

Your drive uses a different laser for DVD and CD and also reads the Disc Info from a different part of the disc. It is worth giving the lens a clean with a liquid cleaner and drying with a microfibre cloth. It is also worth checking that the laser head in your drive is free to move to both extremes of its travel and is not catching on the ribbon cable - it reads DVD info at one extreme and CD info at the other!

I think it is likely that a recent MS or Vaio Update has caused this problem. After all, DVD/CD drives are old technology these days and should be bullet-proof. I know MS has a current problem with DRM which they are trying to fix since their Windows Media DRM was 'cracked' - this has stopped Sky offering downloaded movies until MS can stop open copying of protected movies.

All you can do to establish if it is a 'download software' issue is to make or borrow a boot CD disc and see it it boots in your drive. The boot process by-passes any software so if it works, you know naughty Microsoft or Sony have been playing with the software. If it doesn't boot, then you have a hardware/firmware problem.