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Several members seem to have problems with their CD/DVD drives at the moment. As far as I know, there is no magic solution but you could try some or all of the following: -
1. See if there is an updated driver or updated firmware for your drive at Vaio-Link. Some Sony drives are re-badged from other manufacturers and you may have to search for updated downloads. For example, if you have a Sony DW-D56A drive, you can get a firmware download from HERE (Use PFS2). Many other drives are also supported on this site.
2. Use System Restore to return your Vaio to the configuration when it was last working normally.
Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore - choose a restore date before you had the problem.
3. Look in Device Manager to see if there are any errors against your DVD/CD-ROM drive.
Start -> Right-Click My Computer -> Properties -> Hardware -> Device Manager - expand DVD/CD-ROM Drives and check the status. If there is an Error Code or a yellow triangle with a ! or ? come back here with the number and we may be able to help.
4. If there is no error and the drive is reported as working normally, try Uninstalling the drive by right-clicking on it in Device Manager and choosing Uninstall. Re-booting your Vaio will reinstall the drivers.
5. Try some different software to read/write your discs and see if that works. Also try a different brand of discs - Sony, TDK and Verbatim seem favourites.
6. Try a liquid lens cleaner on the lens and polish with a microfibre cloth ? this can sometimes help.
7. If your drive works with either CDs or DVDs only make sure the ribbon cable is not preventing the reader head from moving freely - check that the laser head in the drive can move freely for the whole range of its travel. The disc information is held on the outside tracks for DVDs and the inner tracks for CDs.
8. Last resort is to perform a full C:\ Drive System Recovery from your Recovery Discs. Make sure you back up all your Data as the contents of C:\ will be lost and your Vaio returned to the factory configuration.
If none of these work, you may have a hardware problem and you need to contact Vaio-Link. There is no point contacting them until you have carried out a Drive C:\ Recovery as this is the first thing they will ask you to do.
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I've had my vaio vgn-s4xp-b for 4 years and my DVD writer has now stopped working? 
I've tried everything and searched google for solutions, youtube has some good non-sony notebook repair clips, I recommend sony users to check them out, it helps, one is not going to get such details from sony?
Your advice is very good for notebook users - you must work for sony - especially for software related problems, however sony MUST provide basic repair upgrade infomation for its customers, and they fail to provide this. I appreciate hardware fails in time, but people who buy non-sony notebooks are able to buy separate parts without difficulty, and they can remove them without difficulty, why cannot sony follow the same lead, for example:
To remove the "dead" DVD unit from my unit one has to remove the power leads, battery, the notebook bottom 10 screws, press the latches under the battery to release the keyboard, remove the keyboard and ribbon cable and the further 5 screws underneath this, now the touchpad and power switch ribbon cables need to be removed.. one needs a special tool - get the picture.:smileyangry:
I'm going to get a non-sony DVD, it will be cheaper to upgrade more modern and more reliable than the existing panasonic matshita UJ-832D. Caddys are available if users prefer a second hard disk instead of a DVD drive.:smileygrin:
As soon as I have found a safe way to remove the ribbon cables and upgrade to a better DVD drive I shall publish this detail to the forum, I'm sure sony users will be pleased with that, what do you say folk!
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Hi Lisaby,
A simple Registry Fix should solve your problems.
The following involves changes to the registry and I recommend that you set a System Restore Point just in case.
Then:
.Press the ‘Windows’ key and press R. In the Run box type: REGEDIT , and hit enter. For Vista, type REGEDIT into the search box and open it).
2. Navigate to –
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
click on this and locate UpperFilters in the right-hand window, (if it exists) right click on Upperfilters and select Delete and then OK.
3. Under the same Registry Key locate LowerFilters, (if it exists) right click on this and select Delete and then OK.
4. Quit Registry Editor and re-boot the computer, new registry values will be created that will hopefully cure the problem.
After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, you may possibly need to re-install your burning software if it doesn't work – but not usually.
profile.country.fr_FR.title
profile.country.GB.title
profile.country.fr_FR.title
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