DVDRAM question...

My system has an LG HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS50 DVD drive, that stopped working. I have not been using it for a good while and not certain just when it stopped working?

Inserting a video, music, or data CD/DVD shows on the device, that it is reading and/or trying to read the disk. Windows Explorer pretty much locks up trying to read the disk, until the system ejects the CD/DVD with no errors, either in the event viewer and/or by Windows Explorer.

The drive in itself has the latest firmware, from 2012, and LG states that the drive is "P-n-P" in Windows 10. The Windows driver (cdrom.sys) is from 2006:



Is this a broken drive, or just need a driver from later date? If the latter one, where can I find it? LG does not have drivers for Windows 10...

TIA

-https://www.lg.com/us/support-product/lg-GH22NS50

New firmware (TN03) for only GH22NS50
TN01
-.Removed BuleBird Function
TN02
-.Support Windows 7
-TN03
- improve readability (CD/DVD Media)


update your firmware. cd roms dont need drivers, the 2006 creation date is typical and it is old for compatibility reasons that not needed to tell them here.

if it has the latest as you said tn03 change your sata cable.

Thanks everyone...

The LG drive did have the TN03 firmware for awhile. That's what I tried first, and it showed:



I did run the update anyway, but it didn't fix the issue...

Yes, the CD/DVD drives are cheap nowadays, but... The PC case sits in a perfect size open shelf under the desk. barely fitting in there. Replacing the CD/DVD drive requires dragging it out, disconnect all the cables, move the tower on to desk, replace the drive and reverse the process.

If I could do it just changing the drive would be much less time...

Probably just the optics need cleaning, bit of a fiddly job in a Desktop optical drive. Easiest just to replace the drive, they are very cheap.
That driver is correct, Windows 10 driver as you can see from the version number, ignore the date there is a reason for the synthetic date.

One thing to try: if you have a bootable CD or DVD, see if you can boot the PC from it. That would eliminate the possibility that it's a Windows error. (My guess is that it is not a Windows problem.) Note that a CD/DVD drive has two lasers: a near IR one for CDs, and a visible red one for DVDs.

Thanks everyone...

I used to have a cleaning CD, maybe I'll find it somewhere...

The only bootable CD I have is W7, built version 7000; it took longer than normal a CD would load the initial start screen, but W7 installation did start up. Rebooted to W10 and the system took about 8-10 minutes to read the W7 CD, not an OEM, just a copy of OEM CD. Other CDs/DVDs were hit an miss, but all of them took about 8-10 minutes to respond. For example, W10 red the W95 upgrade CD, but didn't read the W95 OEM CD.

I was considering both an external CD/DVD, or BluRay drives, but... I don't have any BluRay disk, nor do I use the CD/DVD much. My portable storage is USB drives and even installing OSs and programs, that is my preference. In addition, I have three systems at my disposal, where the CD/DVD drives have no issues.

I'll do some more testing, prior to getting a new CD/DVD drive...