I have Sony VAIO laptop with DVD writer. From past few days my DVD ROM is not reading DVDs, but it is detecting all CDs. When i insert DVD, it is trying to read that DVD and it is on the same status but DVD is not getting detected. DVD ROM is giving some sounds. I am not sure whether there is any problem with my DVD ROM or the drives in my system. I am using XP operating system. The DVD disk which i am using is working well in other systems.

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uninstall and re-install the dvd rom drive from device manager. Try a known working disk in it.

If it's an old/well used drive, it could unfortunately be that the DVD read head has burnt out.

you might try checking the dvd region code..

go to device manager... control panel>system>hardware>device manager.

right click your dvd rom drive and click properties. somewhere in there you should have a region tab (if i remember correctly) set the region to US which should be a 1(may want to confirm the correct region code) and of course that is if you use US dvd's..

see if that helps.

USA is indeed region 1

REGION 1 -- USA, Canada
REGION 2 -- Japan, Europe, South Africa, Middle East, Greenland
REGION 3 -- S.Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Parts of South East Asia
REGION 4 -- Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (including Mexico)
REGION 5 -- Eastern Europe, Russia, India, Africa
REGION 6 -- China
REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.

Thanks for your replies.

I have problem with detecting DVDs. It is not at all reading DVD. When i insert DVD disk, it is trying to read that disk and ROM is giving big sounds. But its of no use. I guess region is used to play DVD videos. Moreover my current region is "Region 1".

If I uninstall drive from Device Manager, from where can I reinstall it again? My current DVD/CD-ROM driver is "SONY DVD RW DW-D56A".

Thanks a lot in advance.

Thanks,
kriss

once iuninstalled, you should be able to right click anywhere in the device manager window and click "scan for hardware changes"

Failing that, you should be able to install from "add new hardware" in controll panel, or failing that still, simply reboot.

you just mentioned loud sounds from your dvd-rw drive...... I would say that what spike said earlier applies here then..

your dvd read head may have read its last disk.

I had trouble with the same exact DVD-RW. Hence the word "had" It went up on me and sony gave me a hard time about it.

Now the sony drive is my guinea pig for DVD drive mods.


Sorry

Sean

If your drive reads cd's, but not dvd's That indicates that the hardware works fine. You will need to edit the registry inorder to fix this problem.

1) click the start menu
2) click on "run"
3) type "regedit" and click ok
4) go to string key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
5) delete "upper filters" and "lower filters in the right side window.
6) right click my computer in the start menu.
7) click properties
8) go to the hardware tab
9) click device manager
10) expand the dvd/cdrom drives
11) right click the dvd rom and click uninstall
12) restart computer

after restarting, windows should automatically install a clean ROM drive and it should read DVDs just fine if you have the correct DVD decoders.


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I have the same problem and I tried the upper and lower filter thing but nothing changed. I still have the same exact problem. It's a Sony DW-56A.

I'm also having the same problem. I tried the suggestion from Geek Squad but there were no "upper filters", only lower, I deleted them, and rebooted, but my drive still won't read DVD's. Anymore suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm having the same problem guys. I have tried everything posted and the d:' is still not accessible and the i/o device error. Someone has to know how to fix this. This is driving me ape s#$t.

Can anyone help??

Not good news I'm afraid. I also have the Sony DVD DW-56A in a Sony VGN A297XP laptop. Eight days after having bought it, and having copied about 80 or so CD's into iTunes, the drive would not respond even to CD ROM's. I did everything Sony asked including a full recovery. They took it back and replaced it.

One year on, it's making the same unhealthy sounding noises it did went it began to fail. Only now it will only read CD's not DVD's. I've resigned myelf to the fact that it's bust again.

MY QUESTION IS THIS......Is it possible to have it replaced with a DIFFERENT drive (compatible)? It's now out of warranty so I would have to pay Sony 12.50 Sterling to get an answer.

replacing a DVD drive in a laptop is a little more difficult. Most compments are custom made. You might find a third party seller, but it's unlikely. It's worth taking a look though.

Hello, I have a VAIO laptop model VGNA290F with CD/DVD RW sony DVD RW DW-D56A PFS3 with a similar problem, I can read Data CDs and play DVD´s apparently without any problem, but I cant play Audio CD´s. Actually It´s strange because it plays the CD but after 1 or 2 minutes it just stops playing the song. When I try to play a different track sometimes it does the same other times it won´t play anything else until I reboot.

My question is, can this be a hardware problem? I´d thought that if this is the case it won´t play anything at all, so I consider a software problem but I am not sure. Please help!

I have tried without success the following:
- Cleaning CD Lens with a dry q-tip
- Uninstalling Nero 7 and InCD
- Uninstalling AnyDVD
- Updating firmware
- changing to different (non scratched) audio cds

Any help would be G R E A T L Y Appreciated fellows

Thanks in Advance

most likely a hardware problem. instead of replacing my internal i went with an external made by plextor. Good Luck.

I also have a Sony Laptop - VGN-A297XP with a sonyDVD RW DW-D56A. Its ten months old and I have given the dvd drive regular use copying CDs etc.
Last week it stopped recognising CDs and DVDs, tried cleaning the heads etc with no joy.
Rang Sony servise as its still under warrenty and using the vaio-link website www.vaio-link.com/ updated my optical driver. Once rebooted it recognises CDs but not DVDs.
Mr Sony service centre tells me he is 99% certain the DVD laser is gone and the next step is to backup all my data and send it back for repair.

After reading all the other comments about the sonyDVD RW DW-D56A its clear its crap and after paying a lot of money for the computer i'd think twice about buying again from Sony. My Sony sI also have a Sony Laptop - VGN-A297XP with a sonyDVD RW DW-D56A. Its ten months old and I have given the DVD drive regular use copying CDs etc.
Last week it stopped recognising CDs and DVDs, tried cleaning the heads etc with no joy.
Rang Sony service as its still under warranty and using the vaio-link website "www.vaio-link.com/ " updated my optical driver. Once rebooted it recognises CDs but not DVDs.
Mr Sony service centre tells me he is 99% certain the DVD laser is gone and the next step is to backup all my data and send it back for repair.

After reading all the other comments about the sonyDVD RW DW-D56A its clear its crap and after paying a lot of money for the computer i'd think twice about buying again from Sony. My Sony soundsystem broke down as well recently 18months after I bought it!
oundsystem broke down as well recently 18months after I bought it!

Have been reading the posts above with interest. I have a Sony Vaio VGN-A317M laptop with Sony DVD RW DW-D56A drive but it has recently developed the opposite problem - it can read DVD disks but not CDs! I've uninstalled it, updated firmware but no change. Does this mean the CD laser has died?

it would appear that your cd is done. May it RIP. I ended up just going with an external drive that I use at home. Good Luck.

I have the same model dvd burner, and i have the following problem.

I can read all DVD discs, but not any CDs, especially home-pressed data discs. Does anybody know if the DVD read head and the CD read head separate, or are they the same thing?

If the CD read head is dead, would I still be possible to read DVD as in my case?

Thanks.