Vista - DVD/CD Driver problems

Okay so here my story (It's a long one)...

So I've had my labtop for around two years now (it came with vista 32bit) and as much as I hate vista I have managed to deal with it. my DVD/CD driver has always worked fine for me until recently.

So I was burning an iso image file to a dvd, (this is not the first time I burned image files to dvds, I've had several other occasions. This one was for a game) and I noticed that it seemed to be taking longer than usual. so I preoccupied myself with other things and came back a while later (I was late at night by then and I was very tired). I took a glance at the compter screen and was pleased to see that it was almost done burning the file (The bar was probably about 97% complete). since it was late I decided to go to bed and leave the computer running.

I wake up the next morning to find that the burning process was exactly where it was the previous night, and hear a clicking sound from my driver. I tried to end the process but it refused to end. I tried to open the driver to take out the dvd, but it refused to open. I tried to shut down the computer but it wouldn't shut down. so I had to shut it down by pressing the power button instead of choosing the shut down option.

I turned the computer back on a found that i was able to remove the disk. I flipped it over to examine it and found a light spot on the disk as though whatever burns infomation onto a disk had burn that spot through the whole night. I put it back in the driver a with difficulty, the computer read the disk as completely blank (The dvd was spinning this time).

I tried a couple different types of blank disk but the computer couldn't read them, and sometimes I found that I couldn't open the driver to take out the disk without shutting down the computer (I was able to shut it down normaly). I tried other blank disks of the same type, the computer recognized them but I couldn't burn anything on them. And any other disk with data on it the computer could not read.

I'm thinking that I need a new driver but I'm not sure.

Any opinions? ideas? anything?

Hi, Pezz3950, and welcome to the forum.

First off, a bit of education. The devices used to read from and write to CDs and DVDs are called *drives* - the software required to make them work correctly are called *drivers* - inherent difference.

Now, as I read your post, You are saying you need a new device for CDs and DVDs - yes. It certainly sounds like you need a new drive. The hard part is that without another laptop of the exact same model (or another model that uses the *same* device) you cannot really test to see if it is your computer or if it is that device. It is possible that you did not notice the spot on there before and the spot is what caused the problems - but that is most likely not true, because even if you had not noticed the spot it would have caused a burn error and the burn would have failed.

Finally, I can think of no reason why you would be burning a game ISO to disc - unless, of course, it is a free game? Otherwise, that smacks of piracy - so you're on thin ice.

Sound like copy protection, you get to 97% then fail. Leaving on the dvd all night may have damaged your drive.
Take it to a repair shop or a cheaper option get a usb drive and use that.
If the laptop in under a year old return to manufacturer.

Are there any cd/dvd drives that I can buy and hook up to my computer by using a usb port? I would rather not have to send in my computer to get fixed since without it my life would be lamer than it already is.

Yes, there are plenty of external DVD burners - in fact, just do a search for that exact phrase -