Hardware problem please help

[wolfblitz]

I have a Sony DRX-800UL DVD/CD rewriteable drve that have had for about 18mths and has worked perfctly till now, it's as if my pc dosn't recognise it i cant record onto it and when i put in a disc to play nothing it just sits there when i go into start>my computer DVD/RW drive is highlighted but dosn't show the cd/dvd thats in there when i go to start>contropl panel>add hardware and highlight the drive it tells me that it is working as it should

now im stuck and confused

Please help thanks

 

[mailpup]

Go the Device Manager and uninstall the controller it is connected to. Shut down Windows, restart and let Windows automatically reinstall the device. If that doesn't help, you may have a bad drive. It happens.

 

[LookinAround]

when i put in a disc to play nothing it just sits there

if 'by nothing, it just sits there" you mean it doesn't even spin up?

you can try taking dvd device itself out and then firmly back in to re-seat it.

/***** EDIT **********?
and check for firmware updates as well as the other things

 

[wolfblitz]

Many apologies for wasting your time but it seems there was nothing wrong with the machine, It turned out to be the RW discs I was using, although they had been used before many times it seems that for some reason the machine would not record on to them any more, bought new discs and now works fine

Thanks to you both - mailpup and LookinAround for your replies

 

[mailpup]

No problem. The important thing is it's working now.

 

[wolfblitz]

Total respect to the people who help Thank You

 

[LookinAround]

The thing we like best is finally hearing "it works!" :grinthumb

We're all glad to help :wave:

(And now you know Read-Write media has limited shelf time too!)

 

[wolfblitz]

Yeah I must admit I thought it would last forever, how long can I expect it to last recording and re-recording over a period of time

 

[mailpup]

Of course it depends on a few variables like media brand, scratches, keeping it out of direct sunlight, etc., but in theory it can last a thousand or more rewrites. At work I record on DVD RWs nearly every day (deleting/adding to an existing project) and approximately once a week I do a complete erase and record but I haven't reached that limit yet. I actually make a duplicate disk so I have two disk copies at all times (plus the original data on hard disk) since no medium is failsafe.

That's not to say no disks have failed. Occasionally one will give trouble and rather than risk data I will just toss it. I know there are other methods of backing up data but all circumstances considered, I choose to use this one for the time being.