He all
all of a sudden my dvd drive only says it is a cd drive in mycomputer. in device manager it is recognized as "standard CD rom drives" but has got the dvd region tab, it is a "samsung dvd-rom sd-616e" and i updated the firmware to the latest version incase this resolved the issue.

The machine has a dvd ram (hl-dt-st dvd-ram gsa-h55n), two hard disks and is running xp with all the latest patches.

any ideas guys?
thanks in advance
frosty12345

you sure its not a CD/RW/DVD ROM which means it will burn cd vbut only read dvd not burn them

thanks for the reply, but perhaps I should clairfy. there are two drives in the system
- samsung dvd rom
- LG dvd ram

the LG dvd ram is working fine.
the samsung dvd rom is only shown as Cd rom in my computer (but has dvd region tab in device manager)

it is the samsung dvd rom that i would like help with.


thanks again in advance for any replies
frosty12345

Check the device manager to see whether there is an issue with the driverIf the device manager indicates there is an issue with the device, you may be able to resolve the issue by uninstalling and then reinstalling it. To do this, follow these steps: 1.Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl, and then click OK.2.On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager.3.Click the drive that uses the driver that you want to remove.4.On the Action menu, click Uninstall.

When you are prompted to confirm the removal, click OK.5.On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.



It could just be a bad driver install,have you tried rolling back the drive?

or is the dvd drive broken?

Is it reconised as a dvd drive in bios?


Have you looked in System -> Administration -> Disks if your DVD is listed?


Also what burning programm do you have installed?have you tried a dvd in the drive to see if it plays?

XP sometimes doesn't recognize a DVD drive as a DVD drive when you first install it - it sees it as a plain CD drive.

Go to Device Manager
- IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
- open up the Properties of (double click on) the Channel the DVD drive is attached to - Primary Channel or Secondary Channel
- select the Advanced Settings tab
- you will probably find the the position the DVD drive is attached to is in PIO mode.
Click on the down "arrow" on the right of the Transfer Mode box, select DMA if Available.
Click OK.
Open up the same Channel again - the DVD drive should now be in Ultra DMA Mode 2, or similar - anything but PIO mode.
You may have to reboot to have the rest of Windows recognize the drive as a DVD drive.
It may be labelled as a DVD Rom drive, even though it's a burner - that's okay - it will work as a burner, if you have burner software installed.
...... If it won't come out of PIO mode, it is because Windows detected a problem with the drive or its connection to the computer and has forced it into PIO mode. Further info avaialable for that situation.

hello, thanks for the reply...

i have tried most of the suggestions, but i am unsure how to complete the step: "Have you looked in System -> Administration -> Disks if your DVD is listed?".

when a video dvd is in the problem drive the light flashes and disc spins but the dvd does not load.

In the last suggestion (IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers), I am unsure which device is at which location. However, three of the four devices (2xhdd , 1xdvdram, 1xdvdrom) are set to DMA modes. one is currently in PIO mode even though the "dma if available" option is selected. i have tried re-selecting dma mode and restarting the computer but it remains in PIO mode.

i suppose that the drive could be broken but how can i be sure... it has worked in the past.

again I feel i should clarify: it is the dvd rom (reader) which i am having problems with.


thanks once again
frosty12345