CD/DVD Drive reading only intermittently

After a rather bad crash on Friday, I successfully booted to my TechTool Pro CD and ran the tests (failed the surface scan--had to zero all the data and reinstall the OS). I of course, reinstalled from the DVD, with no problems. I wanted to boot to the TechTool Pro CD, just to check everything again, but was unable to.
Then, I booted to the hard drive, and it saw the CD and I was able to install the parts that run from inside the OS. I proceeded to try to put the rest of my applications back on, but when I put in my Microsoft Office CD, it didn't recognize it (it didn't even spin, or acknowledge the presence of anything in the drive in Finder). I ejected and put it back in. Nothing. I ejected and made a coworker put it into his computer (found it immediately). I put it back in. Still nothing. I put in Illustrator instead, also nothing. I rebooted. It saw Illustrator and I was able to install. I ejected and replaced the Office CD. Notta. After a few iteration of that (including another reboot) I gave up.
This morning (I had shut down completely last night), upon start up, my computer suddenly recognized the Office CD and I was able to install.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem?

The Office CD is clean and free from scratches (I just checked).
I tried to boot to TechTool (both the time it was successful and now two unsucessful times) by holding the c key down when the computer started up. On the most recent such attempt, the CD drive did not recognize that I had inserted a disc (TechTool) before shutting down, did not boot to it, but after I booted back to the hard drive, recognizes the CD again.

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Try removing the CD/DVD Filters from the Registry.
When CD/DVD related software is installed (such as iTunes, Nero, virtual CD software), they install filters into the registry, which can cause compatibility problems.
1) Run Regedit (Start -> Run -> Regedit)
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
3) In the right pane, delete the "UpperFilters" key, and delete the "LowerFilters" key.
4) Reboot.
If your CD/DVD programs stop working, you will need to reinstall them (preferably with an updated version).
This utility can remove the filters for you:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/bulletins/su2065061/RmvFltrs.exe
If thats no good, then you may need to replace the DVD Drive.

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My HP Pavilion DV7 2206TX - DVD drive reads DVDs but not CD's.
When I insert a CD, the drive tries very hard to read the CD but gives up after about a minute.
I get no error message. I do not see the Auto play message.
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your HP Pavilion needs a new DVD driver. I ran into many problems such as this when troubleshooting computers in school.
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selinahillier wrote: Hi I have a HP Pavilion p6606f Desktop PC Windows 7 64-bit. I was trying to burn off a DVD and it will not reconize DVD's or games, but will reconize a CD. Please help Thanks
Hello selinahillier, Many times when this happens the DVD laser has become faulty. I have removed the DVD drive, and the DVD drive case, and used a soft cloth and some cleaning solution to clean the DVD Laser and managed to get the DVD working again.
Since DVD drives are as inexpensive as they are now, it might be best to just purchase a new one.
These can be purchased for less than $20.00 USD now.
Here is a link to NewEgg where these drives can be found.
Just some thoughts.
Please click the White Kudos star on the left, to say thanks.
Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem.

USB Flash Drive: Read-only filesystem

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Last edited by JJ.Eastwood (2011-05-26 19:50:56)

Can the iMac dvd drive read or accept mini-dvds/cds? thanks

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Dvd Drive Reads Dvd but not burning Dvd

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Help us to help you by posting the following information.
1. The complete Model Name. or Product Number. of the notebook - see This HP web document if you don't how to locate the model number and\or product number.
2. The complete version and name of the operating system you are using ( ie Windows 7 64bit ).
3. Is your notebook still covered under warranty? Check your warranty status Here.
****Please click on Accept As Solution if a suggestion solves your problem. It helps others facing the same problem to find a solution easily****
2015 Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience Consumer

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Hi,
I recently replaced my old dvd/cd drive in my notebook pavillion 2945se. It seems to work well except it only reads some store bought dvd's. It can read Star Trek: voyager, dc movies, disney, star wars discs, and most other store bought dvds but doesn't read marvel movies, import movies.
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Make flash drive read only with no copying

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jfoppes wrote:
… can i format the flahs drive insuch a way a way that prevents copying?
technicallly, to playback you have to 'copy' content (from stick/disk/whatever to device) ....
So, the harder you make it to 'copy protect' your content, the more inconvenient it gets for your paying customers!
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Forget the few copy-cats. Convince by quality (e.g. spelling ) .
Deliver an excellent product, perhaps bundled with some 'extras' (a nice designed box, with pics/t-shirt/memorabilia/…) And, hey - who copies a school-play????

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Should you have another drive with a MBR, use it to rule that issue out. Alternatively create a GPT on the flash drive and try to boot from it.
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My DVD drive works only as a CD drive - no drivers available at Toshiba or Microsoft

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I just discovered that my brand new Toshiba Laptop, delivered at the end of December 2011, will not play DVD movies, read DVD data disks, nor even recognize that a disk is in the drive if it is a DVD. I have checked these disks in two other computers, and they run fine - they are KNOWN GOOD DISKS. This means that Toshiba is shipping laptops that are UNABLE TO FUNCTION for DVDs - reading or writing - any kind of DVD. Problem appears to be the driver - it is a plain vanilla CD-ROM driver, dated 2006. The various 'update' and 'fix-it' programs offered on this and the Microsoft forums, DO NOT ALLOW me to specify that the driver is for a DVD. They just detect the wrong type of drive, and proceed to install a CD-only driver. Then they are unable to detect a problem. Deleting the driver does no good - they just go back and replace with a CD-only driver. CDs work fine, but the drive won't recognize DVDs. The manufacturer of the DVD drive has no driver - Microsoft has no driver - Toshiba has no driver posted on their web site. This is unacceptable. I wish to return this laptop and purchase from a different manufacturer. The only reason I am outside the 30 day replacement period from my retailer is I did not happen to try a DVD until now. I never dreamed the DVD would simply refuse to work. There is NO damage or abuse to this laptop - I have been very careful with it. It is in pristine condition. The fact is, the DVD did not work at the time of shipping and Toshiba did not even test it. Unacceptable.

Drivers no longer need to be installed for CD or DVD drives. Windows handles that. It appears that you're simply having a problem with your computer.
You've tried uninstalled the ODD in Device Manager and letting Windows re-detect it, right?
Have you tried a recovery? Have you contacted customer support?
- Peter

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This is a Read Only drive, it won't burn CD or DVD.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

My CD/DVD drive reads CDs but not DVDs

Hi All
I have a TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633M DVD drive in my laptop and after about 6 months of use, the drive stopped reading/writing DVDs. It still reads CDs fine and occasionally will read a DVD (completely unprovoked and without warning...!) but is very temperamental and will randomly just stop reading a DVD. Often, the drive will eject and give an error message telling me to insert a disc. I'm not sure what to do.
I'm running Windows Vista 32-bit. I have tried running the Microsoft Fixit application, which recognises that the drive is failing to read DVDs but offers nothing more helpful than that and doesn't fix anything (despite its name...). I have been reading through a number of different forums and have found a range of advice: replacing the drive, uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers or editing the registry. What should I be doing to fix this problem? Naturally, I'd prefer not to have to replace the drive itself, but if that's the only way...
Thanks in advance!
Mangi
This question was solved.
View Solution.

The registry thing only works if the drive is completely AWOL from the system so that it does not appear as a drive in "My Computer"....not your issue. The DVD and the CD use different lasers and it is not uncommon for one to go bad and the other not. You can check the function of the DVD by trying to boot from a bootable DVD. If you cannot the drive is bad and needs to be replaced. If it works sometimes and not others it could just need a good cleaning with a DVD lens cleaner.

External hard drive read only unless you unplug and replug in

I've got an external firewire hd (fw 400 with an adapter) connected to a MacBook Pro 2009 running OS X 10.6.2. It's been working flawlessly until recently. I'm not sure what happened and I don't think it's the result of any system upgrade or modification, but now, at startup, the drive shows up as read-only. But, if I eject, unplug, and replug it in, or eject, turn if off, and back on, it mounts correctly as read/write. Get Info on the drive shows that it should be read/write. I've tried repairing permissions and doing a repair disk from Disk Utility, but no problems are found.
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I'm not sure where the issue is but you do you do have it running. One thing you can do to see if it's the computer or the drive is to get another FW drive and connect it and see if it works. If the Mac automatically detects it (like it should!) then that tells you it something with the original drive and if it doesn't then it's obviously something with the MBP. If you take it to an Apple Store and explain the issue they can probably provide another drive to test it out.
If it turns out to be the drive (that's my guess) then it might be a power supply problem or the FW connection, a hunch tells me it would be the power supply.
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Time Machine - External Hard Drive Read only error

Just recently got a Iomega 1TB MiniMax FireWire 800 USB 2.0 Desktop Hard Drive and used Time Machine to backup my computer. This was my first time using Time Machine and it successfully backed up 350 GBs. It continued to do backups every hour. When I turned my computer off and then turned it on the next day Time Machine wouldn't allow me to do a backup because it said the hard drive was read only. When I checked info it said it was read/write. I used disc utility to verify disc it said it could not verify disc do a disc repair. Disc repair failed and it said reformat disc. I erased the hard drive tried again and I got the same error message. The hard drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I searched this forum and the trouble shooting links and couldn't find anything on how to correct this. Any help on this problem would be appreciated.

See the following:
What to do if Time Machine reports you don't have permission
This was posted in the Apple Discussions by V.K. I have only modified it slightly to be more generic.
The problem seems to be that 10.5.6 changes permissions on a file so that even the root user doesn't have write peivileges. I have no idea why they did this. The workaround suggested in [an]other post will probably work, too, but i did something less drastic. Instead of deleting the file I changed permissions on it, and it worked just fine. An added benefit is that the permission change seems to stick, so you don't have to delete the file every time you change a drive.
[Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt [enter] the following command:
sudo chmod 644 /volumes/"TM drive name"/.xxxxxxxxxxxx
The name of the file .xxxxxxxxxxxx is based on the MAC address of your computer and will be different for every computer. Put the name of the TM drive in the above and keep the quotes.
You'll have to enter your admin password (which you won't see) which is normal.
This was edited by Kappy just for cleanup.
Enable Finder to Show Invisible Files and Folders
Open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder. At the prompt enter or paste the following command line then press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
To turn off the display of invisible files and folders enter or paste the following command line and press RETURN.
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE
Alternatively you can use one of the numerous third-party utilities such as TinkerTool or ShowHideInvisibleFiles - VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Also, see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.
Message was edited by: Kappy

CD/DVD Drive reading only intermittently

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