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DVD drive plays CDs but can't play DVDs

#1 User is offline   monti420 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 10:56 AM

I have a sony Vaio VGN-S360 laptop. My DVD drive is MATSHITA UJDA765aDVD/CDRW. The drive was working fine but for about a week or so ago it started misbehaving.

Now it only plays CD ROMs and doens't play DVDs. After inserting the DVD nothing happens. When I click on the drive I can go into the drive (DVD) but see no content, it's all blank.

I have tried the following: disabled and enabled the device, scanned the system for viruses, and updated the drivers; but no success.

Please help,
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#2 User is offline   techie4fun Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 11:44 AM

Will it play a standard DVD movie?
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#3 User is offline   coastie65 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 12:29 PM

Hi monti and welcome to the forum. The CD & DVD, although the same drive, operate on two different wave lengths. My guess is that the DVD portion is toast. It happens. I had the CD portion go out in here. The only fix is to replace the optical drive. coastie
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#4 User is offline   techie4fun Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 12:34 PM

I was thinking the same, and was afraid of that.
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#5 User is offline   smax013 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 01:07 PM

coastie65 said:

Hi monti and welcome to the forum. The CD & DVD, although the same drive, operate on two different wave lengths. My guess is that the DVD portion is toast. It happens. I had the CD portion go out in here. The only fix is to replace the optical drive. coastie


This might be true...but before going there, I would suggest trying a optical drive cleaner. It is possible that the DVD reading laser is dirty (I am pretty sure that there are two different lasers...one for reading CDs and the other for reading DVDs).
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#6 User is offline   coastie65 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 01:13 PM

Hey smax, Not sure if there are two separate lasers. I think it is one that switches wave lengths depending on which media is in there.
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#7 User is offline   tek101 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 01:40 PM

Try the original driver for cd/dvd ...: esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS360&upd[uid=2031&os[/u]id=7]

If it doesn't work.......Properly need a new CD/DVD player.."Optic drive"
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#8 User is offline   smax013 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 01:55 PM

tek101 said:

If it doesn't work.......Properly need a new CD/DVD player.."Optic drive"


Which might be easier said than done...keep in mind that this is a laptop.

If it is under warranty, then it should be straight forward...ship it to Sony and they should replace the drive (assuming it is dead or damaged).

If not under warranty, then could still ship it to Sony, but the poster would have to pay for everything, which likely would NOT be cheap.

It might also be possible to purchase drive and install it oneself, but if the poster is squimish about opening up computers then this would not be a viable options...and that does not even start to take in account how "user serviceable" this particular Sony Viao laptop might be.
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#9 User is offline   tek101 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 02:43 PM

Only 1 or two screws the most........Man....

pop it it out ....pop a new 1 in ....run the cd software that comes with it....DONE........
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#10 User is offline   smax013 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 04:13 PM

tek101 said:

Only 1 or two screws the most........Man....


pop it it out ....pop a new 1 in ....run the cd software that comes with it....DONE........


I believe you are thinking about a DESKTOP. Typically, replacing optical drives on a laptop are WAY more involved.
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#11 User is offline   coastie65 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 04:20 PM

:^0 I was going to say the same thing. I don't do lappy's. Those things are more than I want work on. They break down, I use em for skeet targets. :D
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#12 User is offline   monti420 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 05:00 PM

No, it does not play any DVD.
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#13 User is offline   coastie65 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 05:05 PM

Hi, Ok, if it plays CD's and Doesn't play or even recognize a DVD, then it is time for a new drive. My case was the opposite. It would do fine with DVD's But put in a CD and nothing. When I checked the drive, nothing showed although a CD was in there. The CD portion was Done for and the only fix was a new drive. coastie
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#14 User is offline   monti420 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 05:07 PM

Thanks for the link. Tried it but it doesn't work. Looks like I'll have to go for the new drive. Thanx.
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#15 User is offline   tek101 Icon

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 05:26 PM

I did one Sony and 2 HPs drives already .......

Anyway.....Just .....IMP....
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#16 User is offline   LincolnSpector Icon

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Posted 30 April 2009 - 07:18 AM

Have you tried a data DVD--one with just files on it but no a movie? If it can see that, problem isn't with your drive's hardware, but with Windows.



Lincoln
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#17 User is offline   techie4fun Icon

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Posted 30 April 2009 - 08:57 AM

While possible, suggesting it to a newbie generally requires more experience.
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#18 User is offline   monti420 Icon

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Posted 04 May 2009 - 12:39 PM

No it does not play any type of DVDs be it a video or data. However, if you would stil like to suggest any windows tweaks I am happy to try them.
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#19 User is offline   tek101 Icon

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Posted 04 May 2009 - 12:51 PM

"Newbie" ...Don't be so cocky man .........How do you know that .......?
If you have any help...please by all mean ....other than that ...don't put down others .....NOT NICE.
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