Disappearing DVD drive

My Dell XPS 8920 (Windows 10) had an Dell OEM DVD writer (Drive E) which stopped working after a year. While the DVD drive was working, I purchased an external Pioneer BRD XD05B USB blu-ray writer (Drive G) to play Blu-ray discs.

I replaced the Dell OEM DVD writer with an internal LG BU40N blu-ray writer. LG does not provide Windows drivers for its products. They claim that their devices are all "Plug and Play".

The LG drive does not read all of my DVDs, even through Windows says the disc is there. If I put that same disc in the Pioneer drive, it plays as expected.

I recently purchased the Spiderman: Far From Home DVD (not Blu-ray, not 4k).

When I put the Spiderman DVD in the LG drive, the drive disappeared from Windows and did not re-appear until I rebooted the computer.. If I re-boot the computer with the Spiderman disk in the drive, Windows will recognize the drive and the DVD plays as expected.

After one such reboot, I put the Spiderman DVD in the LG, and the drive disappeared. I then put the disc in the Pioneer, and it not only played, but the LG drive re-appeared in Windows.

The only thing that I can imagine is that the copy-protection on the Spiderman DVD is doing something to the drive, knocking it off of Windows altogether.

***

When I purchased the Dell XPS 8920, I also bought the Cyberlink Media Suite 15 (through Dell) which included Cyberlink Power Media Player 14. That version does not play Blu-ray discs. I bought Cyberlink PowerDVD 18, which does play Blu-ray discs, but only on the Pioneer.

Paul Black,

Here is the results screenshot that you requested.



It should be noted that, although the LG BU40N blu-ray writer (Drive E) will not play all of my DVDs, it will play some of my Blu-ray discs. The Pioneer BRD XD05B USB blu-ray writer (Drive G) will play all of my DVD and Blu-ray discs. I have no clue why the Spiderman: Far From Home DVD makes my drive E disappear.

Before I sprung for the Cyberlink upgrade, I did try a few free Blu-ray programs that I found online (i.e. Leawo, DAPlayer). I did not like the interface on any of them.

I should have purchased the Corel WinDVD Pro software. My Dell Inspiron 503 (April 2009) shipped with Cyberlink's PowerDVD 7DX, so I was comfortable with that software.

Paul Black,

I do have the VideoLan VLC player. I tried a few of the hacks, but VLC does not want to play encrypted discs. I tried it with my Blu-ray copy of Wonder Woman. I also have the Wonder Woman DVD in that same package. VLC can play that, but I still prefer the Cyberlink interface.

This topic is more of an advisory. I can get all of my DVDs and blu-ray discs to play on the external Pioneer. I was just surprised when the Spiderman DVD made the LG drive invisible to Windows 10.

Many thanks!

Although the Spiderman DVD mentioned above was the first to show the disappearing drive syndrome, other DVDs are doing the same thing. I now believe that the problem lies with Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I have seen numerous reports of that software making hard drives disappear.

The Intel Rapid Storage Technology GUI had a note saying that it was being replaced by the "Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management" application. You cannot get this from Intel. You have to go through the Microsoft Store. Huh?

After uninstalling the Intel RST software, I discovered that the LG BU40N blu-ray drive still disappeared. Apparently the culprit was Windows 10, which hid the drive with "Code 45".

Device Manager -> View -> Show hidden devices:
DVD\CD ROM Drives -> HL-DT-HST-BD-RE-BU40N -> Properties
"Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer."

Seriously? How can an internal drive get itself disconnected? I might stick the OEM drive back in to see what that does. Computer 'surgery' is always a PITA, especially when the problem is in the software.

BYW, the Microsoft driver for this device is from 6/21/2006, over fourteen years ago. One would think that Hitachi-LG could provide a better driver by now!