BleepingComputer.com: Advent 7017 Cd/dvd Failure Advice Needed

Good evening all - My CD drive appears to have departed this dimension.

The tray opens and closes, the drive is shown on the My Computer/Devices with Removable Storage. In system properties/hardware/device manager/dvd/cd-rom drives/right click/ properties/troubleshoot - I get the message this device is working properly - But - I can't get any of my CD's to open, the machine runs the cd drive you can hear the whirl then nothing.

I have XP home edition sp2

Does anyone know how to fix or give advice as to whither I need a new drive. If I need a new drive will I be as well buying a new Laptop or a new drive - I have looked at the prices for a new drive and the appear very dear [£135.00?] giving the age of this current laptop and the price of a half decent laptop I think it would make economical sense to invest in a new machine.

At my age I was hoping this present advent 7017 machine would have more of a shelf life than I have and as the retirement pension is not exactly geared to allow boring old farts like me to afford such luxuries as laptops I was hoping to find a cheap replacement or free advice to fix the "old" drive.

I would be most grateful if anyone could help. Can I apologise to anyone who answers tonight, I will be unable to reply tonight as the nurse has told me to switch off the laptop and go to sleep. I promise I will look first thing in the morning when "niggly nellie" the nurse gives me my laptop back.

Good night - blessings to you all and have a quiet and peaceful night/or day depending where you come from.

Sorry to hear you're in the hospital. I hope you have a speedy recovery. We can't use our laptops in the hospital where I'm at.
CD/DVD drives aren't that much. 33.95 Pounds. You'd have to double-check the interface
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/Search...&CatId=1346
Possibly the optical lens is dirty,try blowing in it. You can also try removing it in Device Manager, reboot the computer and see in Windows re-detects the drive

thanks garmanma - I'm very sorry for misleading you, I am not in hospital my "home support nurse" comes into my home to give me my supper, my medication, bathes me, gets me ready for bed and settles me for the night. Please accept my apology and my thanks for your advice which I'm going to try and follow.

I will let you know how I get on.

Removed the drive via device manager and did a restart. The computer found new hardware - installed it - and told me it is now working. Unfortunately it did not work neither did cleaning the optical lens.

Seems like a new drive is on the cards - many thanks for your help.

Try this first. The symptoms are different, but it can't hurt to try it

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

My humble apologies for not replying sooner Garmanma I have been laid low for the past 2 days and to be honest computer problems were the last thing on my mind.

I followed your link and used the Guide to resolve cd access problems and so far there is no change in the issue. I will try to read and digest the Microsoft details to see if it was used correctly as I have said I'm all over the place at the moment with very poor concentration and enthusiasm.

I will not give up yet Garmanma and I would like to thank you very much for your patience and help.

Blessings to you and your clan.

Taking care of yourself is far more important then any computer problem. Someone will be here when you feel better
To your health

Many thanks.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this message and should have started a new topic. The reason for putting it here is because it is still the same issue with a new questions.

TBC file (*.tbc) The key HKCR\.tbc for this file type contains no data
TBT file (*.tbt) The key HKCR\.tbt for this file type contains no data
CDBurnerXPOpen The key HKCR\CDBurnerXPOpen for this file type contains no data

Has the above three error massages anything to do with my CDRW/DVD not working?

I have tried to get the driver QSI CDRW/DVD SBW-242 fro the advent site and various other sites without luck - does anyone know where I can find this driver or a compatible driver?

I can work without the need for the CDRW/DVD for a while however there is one program I would like to reinstall but can't because my laptop will not read the CD. Could I take my program CD and an external hard drive [235GB] to a friends house and copy the CD to my external drive and then transfer it to my laptop - this program is an original, genuine, registered to me CD - will this work?

CD/DVD drives are plug and play. No special drivers needed

Thanks garmanma - I think I have wasted enough time on my CDRW/DVD problem but until I invest in a new drive will I be able to get another machine to load the CD program that I would like to reinstall onto an external hard drive and run it on my laptop?

Sorry for being a demanding old fart but I am grateful for any advice or help.