Hi all, I'm new here. I was brought here out of frustration as I imagine others were/are. :)
I have a LITE-ON DVDRW SHW160P6s. Which is supposed to play +/- RW's. Well, I ran the DR16PS08 update and ow my drive only recognizes that it is a cd drive. It shows DVD-RW but right under it it shows CD drive. It will not acknowledge when I put a +RW disk anymore. I don't know if it will on a -RW b/c I don't have any to try it on.
Can someone please,PLEASE tell me how to fix this problem. I have already uninstalled and re-installed the drivers. I uninstalled the drive. Nothing works and it is driving me crazy. Yes, I can play a DVD in the drive...but only a movie dvd, nothing else and it has to be one from the video store.
Ever wanna throw your 'puter out the window?

I have the same problem. With the same drive. I am able to burn dvd's and cd's, and can also read a movie dvd, data cd, and music cd. The only thing it won't do is what I need it to do. Read a dvd backup of my hard drive from last month..

And yes, sometimes I do want to throw my pc out the window.

The drive only lasts a year. If yours is older than that, it is dead. There are two lasers. One has gone bad.
Replacements are relatively cheap, but you will be wise to get both a CD-RW and a DVD-RW or DVD.
LiteOn is not a bad brand by today's standards. LG and Samsung are better for little more money. A top unit would be a Plextor, Yamaha, Phillips, and certain models of the Pioneer.
In our experience, the above are more reliable and long lasting than LaCie, Sony, HP, HDLS, Asus, Nu, Nec, 4XEM, Verbatim, RiData, and Mitsumi

Well, that's not exactly the answer I was hoping for... :stickout: But I guess it'll do. Thanks a bunch for the help! :giddy:

They are not ALWAYS defective. Try this:
Go to http://aumha.org/reg3.htm

then scroll down to Restore Missing CD Drive

This works for a lot of people... at least for a few times.

If you play a lot of games or use programs that use a CD, you might want to look into a program like Daemon Tools that will allow you to do these things without having a CD in the drive. This will save a lot of wear and tear on the optics. I have an NEC combo CD/DVD burner, and a Lite-On CD/DVD ROM. They are both over 2 years old. The NEC burner has burned over 300 CD/DVD's. We do not smoke in this house either. Smoke will deteriorate optics fast