Hey all,

I am a software guru by trade - not a hardware expert - so I come here to post for some help (before I have to bite the bullet and call Dell).

I have a laptop, less than 1 year old with a DVD burner on it. Well, a few weeks ago, the drive just suddenly failed to be recognized by Windows.

What I've tried:
1.) In Windows Explorer or My Computer, no D:\ drive mounted.
2.) Command-prompt - no D:\ drive available.
3.) In Device Manager, no "CD/DVD Devices" tree element.
4.) In BIOS, nothing looks out of the ordinary - even reset to factory settings.
5.) System Restore to an old save point did not fix the problem.
6.) Registry fixes available on the internet for this "problem" did not resolve the problem (upper and lower shit...I don't remember exactly what registry values they were now).
7.) Pressing the eject button on the drive does not open it, no lights, no spinning sounds etc....


Sounds to me like its either not properly connected (for some reason, I've never cracked the laptop open, nor would I want to), or the drive just flat out failed and is broken - but then, I would expect it to show up in Device Manager.

IDK wtf is wrong -- any ideas? I've still got a warrantly from Dell on it, so I can call them/send it to them, I just want to avoid that if I can.

Thanks in advance.

its a laptop, use your warranty. Fixing laptops is 2x to 3x more expensive then a desktop. The external drives on laptops are removable. I assume you did pull it out and push it back in to reseat it? if so and you stll have no power then call dell. they probably will try and swap the drive first i assume.

Nort wrote: › its a laptop, use your warranty. Fixing laptops is 2x to 3x more expensive then a desktop. The external drives on laptops are removable. I assume you did pull it out and push it back in to reseat it? if so and you stll have no power then call dell. they probably will try and swap the drive first i assume.

I'll have to try that - I certainly dont' want to crack the case, as to invalidate my warranty.

yeah to pop out the drive, it should just have a release lever on the bottom of the laptop that you have to utilize, then slide out the drive and slide it back in making sure it is snug.