Is this causing my problem?

[Kelvin_C-J]

Hi Guys,

Last Night I successfully installed XP twice, this morning, installed it once more.. and formatted with W7 disk. Now I'm trying to get either Vista or W7 to boot up from CD but nothing is happening..?

- The CD/DVD drive is loading but just a blank screen and nothing changes.. could my Optical drive be failing..?

- It does take ages to recognise something is in the drive, so might it be failing or is it because in the BIOS it is set to IDE..? - Tried ACHI but then it doesn't recognise anything!

Just wondering if I might aswell go ahead and purchase a new one..? 22X Samsung or 22X LG..?

My current one is a standard LG I believe.

Also I have checked the SATA connections and they're fine.. the Mobo also recognises the DVD drive, so surely it is failing / dying..?! Haven't tested the HD, but when I remove the disk I get an I/O error and it says it could be the DVD drive or the HD.. should I order another Optical drive + another Sumsung SpinPoint to test both..?

[dave8691]

The bios merely reads the DVD drive firmware to recognise the presence or otherwise of the drive. It cannot tell if the drive is reading a disc.

The DVD drive should boot up even if the hard drive is not partitioned or formatted. I assume the hard drive is recognised in the bios.

Often the laser in a DVD drive will fail gradually, where the drive will read some discs and not others, you might want to try another operating system disc in the drive. The only way to prove this is to exchange the drive. Fortunately, they are one of the least expensive components in a PC, so I would try this first.

A short term remedy of cleaning the laser with a cleaning kit (disc) sometimes works, but of course they cost money!