Vista - DVD Drive fails to read data discs

Hi guys! I recently built a new computer and am having a quirky issue with my DVD drive and hopefully someone will know where to start. It seems that the drive will read CDs (opening them in iTunes) and music DVDs (playing in Mplayer), but the system completely hangs and freezes when trying to load a data disc. Specifically, the system will continually try and open the DVD (spinning away) and cause serious lag to the computer. When trying to eject the DVD, it will then cause the computer to freeze and require a reboot.

The data discs that I'm using are all programs that I've previously loaded on my XP install, so I know the discs aren't corrupt. I'm also running a 32 bit version of Vista, so I'm not worried about 64 bit compatibility issues.

The drive is a Lite-on (DH-20A4P) IDE based drive, set as Master on the cable. There are no other devices hooked to the IDE cable, and the cable is also brand new (came with motherboard).

Here's the steps I've taken thus far to diagnose the problem -- with no fixes working.

- Downloaded and installed newest drivers for the DVD drive
- Flashed the DVD drive firmware with most current version
- Uninstalled then reinstalled DVD drive through Device Manager
- Disabled autorun feature
- Checked connections from drive to motherboard

At this point, I'm not sure of what else to check. The drive obviously is working properly since I'm able to play CDs and DVD movies/music. It might be worth noting that I used this same drive to install Vista, but perhaps the updates horked my drive?

I'm thinking this is a Vista software issue, but can't think of anything else to try. I'm also hesitant to wipe and reinstall Vista for such a small issue. Any help in figuring out this issue would be incredibly helpful. Thanks!

seems to be an OS issue. reinstalling OS will fix it for you.

Also, does the drive read data CD/DVDs in another computer? If it cannot, then it may indeed be a hardware issue. Though it is entirely possible that the way the disks are written, they are bad. Try using the Vista DVD and see if it reads. If not, then try another cable. If none of that works, try a repair or reinstall, as suggested by Dinesh above. (I only suggest mine first because reinstalling the OS is a pain)

~Lordbob

Lordbob, thanks for the suggestions. I'll need to scrounge around for the Vista DVD to see if it reads. I'll also try pulling out the drive as you've suggested. While I know it's most likely the OS, I want to eliminate all possibilities before even thinking of zeroing windows and reinstalling again. I'll post an update when I try either.

No problem. Let us know.

~Lordbob

@calcium I would disable autoplay, as you mentioned, and also install FreeCommander free shell program. I have had issues on many machines where inserting a data DVD or blank disc will bring up a dialog asking me if I want to format it etc..

What I do is insert the CD or DVD then bring up FreeCommander and press the toolbar button for that drive. Then I can copy data files off the disc using FreeCommander or drag&drop to an explorer window. It's worked for me on many different PCs.


If your drive won't stop accessing so that you can load FreeCommander you may have to also disable Disc Change Notification. I don't know where the setting is in Vista but Imgburn has an option to disable it that sets the OS setting for you.
If you google or look through the tutorials here you should be able to find how to disable the change notification for the optical discs.

In the past, I've seen this sort of behavior because of iTunes. Apple, in its infinite wisdom, thinks it needs to install a CD/DVD driver, which in the past was quite buggy.

Though it's been a while since I've encountered that problem (I had thought Apple finally got it figured out), I figure it's worth mentioning. If you check the drivers being used by your drive and find anything other than cdrom.sys, well... that might be your problem.

If that is the case, you can either uninstall whatever app put the unwanted drivers there, or find and delete the offending driver and its setup inf file(s) - which is always loads of fun.

Just an idea. But it beats wiping your hard disk.

I had whats seems to be the same/similar problem which I've managed to fix.

I was reading a DVD data disk that had been created on a mac - not sure what then happened but 5 mins later it wouldn't read the disk at all (explorer just hung trying to index the disk) - DVD films worked fine though! (rebooting made no difference)

I'd seen that a utility programme called ISOBUSTER had automatically loaded earlier when trying to process the DVD, so I uninstalled this and, hey presto explorer could read the disk fine again - didn't even need to reboot.

hth someone else.
cheers