External Dvd/cd Drive Stopped Working

Bought an LG external dvd/cd drive/burner about 3+/- months ago. No problems until today. When I woke up there was an error message, something about it not being recognizable anymore, or something like that. I had to do some work and was in a hurry, so I didn't write down the message, and now I can't get the computer to replicate the message. I tried rebooting, but no error message. It also will not show up in the control panel as a drive, will not be recognized as new hardware, or anything. The door opens and closes, so I know it's getting power. Any ideas as to what is wrong, or how I might be able to replicate the error message so it can be tracked down would be most helpful and appreciated. Thanks.

Try uninstalling it and reinstalling it so that it will show up as a new device, if this dosen't work you might have a driver issue.

Try doing as dc3 said and uninstall/reinstall the drive. Seeing as you said that it won't show up as a drive in control panel....does that mean that you went to device manager and it wasn't recognized? Go to Start>settings>control panel then open up "System". Click on the Hardware tab then click on "device manager". Is the drive listed under "DVD/CD drives"? If it is, then right click on it and click "uninstall". Now, turn off your computer and check to make sure that all the cables that lead to and from your dvd drive are plugged in all the way (correctly). Turn your computer back on. It should be picked up as new hardware/new device found and windows should install it as the vast majority of drives out today are plug and play compatible, and the manufactures recomend against "updating" drivers.

If this doesn't work, check the LG website and look for firmware updates for your model drive. I used to have to update the firmware on an old drive that I had so that it would burn DVD's at 2.4x (yes, it was REALLY old!).

First thing I would do is if it's under warranty of any type, I'd call the place you bought it from and get tech support on the line.

Hope it helps!

EDIT: I just remembered: if none of this works, try plugging it into a usb port (or firewire port) that it has never been plugged into before. It's weird, but it might work. Windows should recognize it as new hardware and reinstall it, which should fix the problem. I had the same thing happen to me with a usb headset with microphone. It stopped working in the same usb port that I always plugged it into. So I tried a different port, and it worked fine......go figure. Not sure why it did that, but it did, and using a different usb port fixed it. Hope it helps!

Try doing as dc3 said and uninstall/reinstall the drive. Seeing as you said that it won't show up as a drive in control panel....does that mean that you went to device manager and it wasn't recognized? Go to Start>settings>control panel then open up "System". Click on the Hardware tab then click on "device manager". Is the drive listed under "DVD/CD drives"? If it is, then right click on it and click "uninstall". Now, turn off your computer and check to make sure that all the cables that lead to and from your dvd drive are plugged in all the way (correctly). Turn your computer back on. It should be picked up as new hardware/new device found and windows should install it as the vast majority of drives out today are plug and play compatible, and the manufactures recomend against "updating" drivers.

If this doesn't work, check the LG website and look for firmware updates for your model drive. I used to have to update the firmware on an old drive that I had so that it would burn DVD's at 2.4x (yes, it was REALLY old!).

First thing I would do is if it's under warranty of any type, I'd call the place you bought it from and get tech support on the line.

Hope it helps!

EDIT: I just remembered: if none of this works, try plugging it into a usb port (or firewire port) that it has never been plugged into before. It's weird, but it might work. Windows should recognize it as new hardware and reinstall it, which should fix the problem. I had the same thing happen to me with a usb headset with microphone. It stopped working in the same usb port that I always plugged it into. So I tried a different port, and it worked fine......go figure. Not sure why it did that, but it did, and using a different usb port fixed it. Hope it helps!

Ok, strange happenings, but I think I may be onto something. Did as you and dc3 suggested, or tried to. It would not show up anywhere. But, let me back up a bit first. This morning, my external USB hard drive (I use it for back-ups) experienced the same thing. "This is wierd", I thought. Same error, and everything.

I get a box that says:

USB Device not recognized at the top

Then in the dialog box a warning symbol with One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.

Then, in another internal box the following:
The location of the device is shown in bold type:
- Unused port
- Unknown Device
- Unknown Device
- USB Composite Device
- Unused Port

Then outside the last internal box:
Recommendation: Try reconnecting the device. If Windows does not recognize it, replace the device.

Then, a "close" button.

Now, the first "unknown device" in bold above was today's external hard drive. The one below it was the external dvd/cd drive two days ago. When I bought the computer brand new in Dec '05 I also bought an internal card with four USB ports and two firewire ports. These two devices, and one other (the "USB Composite Device", I'm sure) were plugged into this card.

Back to the present... now, after trying your recommendations I came to trying another port. I've experienced this sometimes, too, with USB ports. Anyway, I unplugged both the hard drive and the dvd/cd and plugged them into the regular USB ports that came with the computer... and they were both instantly recognized and now show up as they should in what I still refer to as "file manager".

Would I be correct to assume that it is the USB/Firewire card itself that has gone bad?

Try plugging the drive(s) into different ports on the card and see if the computer recognizes them. If not, then I'd think it's safe to say that you have to replace the card. Are they're drivers for the card? If so, try reinstalling them.

Before I replaced the card, I'd plug it into a different PCI slot to see if that works. I'm far from a pro, but I do know that the PCI slots share IRQ's (Interupt Request), and that sometimes it will cause conflicts.

Hope it helps!

Ok, now this is getting really strange. I had plugged both devices into the standard USB slots in the back of the computer and they both worked fine. A couple days pass and all seems good. Then, suddenly, they're both not being recognized again. They're still in the standard slots instead of the aftermarket card. I didn't get the usual error box, they're just not being recognized.

The hard drive was making a clicking noise both times when the back-up program was trying to work, but since two separate and different components are having problems I'm wondering if the clicking is the result of something else and not the cause.

I'm afraid to plug them into yet another place, just in case they're causing things to burn out, but again, with this happening to both, I seriously doubt that's the case.

I'm at a loss.