How to Fix HP CD/DVD Drive Not Working, Reading or Responding to Disks

How to Fix HP CD/DVD Drive Not Working, Reading or Responding to Disks

A customer recently had a problem with the CD/DVD drive in their HP computer which had essentially just stopped reading disks.  The drawer would open fine and the disk drive was visible as an option in My Computer but the system simply wouldn’t read or detect the disks.

After a quick search it seemed like lots of HP customers have had the same experience: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-CD-DVD-Reply-Only/CD-DVD-drive-non-responsive/td-p/488475/page/2.

Device ManagerSteps to Fix the Issue

Step 1: Reinstall the CD/DVD Drive

This is the easiest step to try and is risk free – you simply force Windows to reinstall the drive from scratch:

  1. Device-Manager-DVD-UninstallGo to Control Panel, System and then Device Manager (or type ‘Device Manager’ in to the search box of the start menu)
  2. Locate your CD/DVD drive in Device Manager and note the name (in case you need to continue on to Step 2), right click on it and select Uninstall
  3. Now shutdown your computer, personally I recommend shutting down the computer, disconnecting it from the mains and pressing the power button a few times with it unplugged – this force the dissipation of any residual power in the system.
  4. Restart your computer and try the drive.
  5. If the problem persists move on to step 2

Step 2: Update the Firmware of your CD/DVD drive

What is Firmware?  Firmware is the software in your hardware – hence the ‘firm’ (somewhere between hard and soft) and just like the software on your computer, it can be updated to fix issues or improve performance.

Note Update to an incorrect firmware can render the device unusable so you do so at your own risk. I recommend downloading updates only from manufacturer websites.
  1. Identify the exact model of your optical drive – for some people this will be listed in the device name in Device Manager, for example my customers device was a HP AD-7251H.
  2. Go to either your PC manufacturer’s or the device manufacturers website and locate the latest firmware update – sometimes its easier just to search in Google for “model name firmware download” (in my case this was “AD-7251H Firmware Download“).
  3. Run the firmware update, restart your PC and test the drive again – if it’s still not working, go to Step 3

Step 3: Replace the Drive

DVD Drives are SO cheap these days that at this point its not worth spending more time trying to debug or repair it – I recommend either buying a new internal CD/DVD drive or an external USB CD/DVD drive you can use for lots of different computers/laptops.  Replacing them in your PC is also very simple – generally four screws and two connectors.

I recommend the following replacements:

Internal SATA DVD DriveLG 24X SATA Super-Multi DVD Internal Rewriter with M-Disc Support

External USB DVD DriveSamsung USB Portable DVD Writer

IDE CableFor older computers you might require an ‘IDE’ dvd writer – you can tell by opening your case and seeing if it has a ‘ribbon’ type cable (see picture on the right).  Truth be told though, this will not be compatible with any new PC you buy so you might be better purchasing an External Drive (see above):

Internal IDE DVD DriveNIXSYS IDE DVD+/-RW

Bob McKay

About Bob McKay

Bob is a Founder of Seguro Ltd, a full time father and husband, part-time tinkerer-with-wires, coder, Muay Thai practitioner, builder and cook. Big fan of equality, tolerance and co-existence.

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2 comments on «How to Fix HP CD/DVD Drive Not Working, Reading or Responding to Disks»

  1. Daryl Willingham says:

    bring up device manager
    expand cd/dvd drive
    right click cd/dvd name
    click properties
    click on dvd region
    in the lower half, in new region select region 1
    close device manager
    open device manger again
    expand cd/dvd drive
    right click cd/dvd name
    click dvd region
    in lower half of menu click on restore default settings
    click ok and close device manager
    now see if you dvd drive detects that disc now
    HOpe that does it. It worked for me after trying everything else I could sind.
    I just tried this on a gut feeling.
    good luck

  2. COMPUTER REJECT S H P PRINTER PUT IN INSTALL PRINTER AND COMPUTER WILL NOT EXCEPT WHAT CAN I DO TO GET THIS COMPUTER TO EXCEPT THIS PRINTER H P DESK JET 2132 PRINT SCAN COPY THE PRINTER LOST CONNECTION WITH COMPUTER ?

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