Comments on: CD/DVD drive kaput

Question: CD/DVD drive kaput

NinaLee — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:54:15 -0800

I'm having trouble with the CDRW/DVD drive in my Inspiron 1000 laptop. When I insert a music CD or a movie DVD, nothing happens. There's no sound from the CD, and the DVD software doesn't automatically start as it did when things were working properly. I have both Windows Media Player and the Dell DVD player that came with the computer. More details inside.

When I run the diagnostics setup that I get by pressing F12 at the startup for the computer and customize it for the CDRW/DVD hardware, I get an "error code 0F00 138C" and a message that the "IDE device failed, no audio output." The CDRW/DVD diagnostic for "Device", "Read" and "Seek" tests were all OK.

Is this something a rank amateur such as I am might be able to repair or should I take it to a professional repairman? Any advice on what else I might do at this point would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

By: mattdini

mattdini — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:29:03 -0800

If you launch WMP or the dvd software manually, does it work then? Or is it just the auto launch feature that isn't working?

If it's just the auto-run that is disabled, you can re-enable it:

1. Open Windows Explorer by pressing the Windows + "e" key.

2. Right-click the desired CD-ROM and select Properties from the menu.

3. Select the AutoPlay tab.

4. Select each item from the pulldown list and for the Action to perform, select "Take no action" to disable autorun, or pick the apporpriate action to take if enabling autorun.

5. Select OK.

By: Xoder

Xoder — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:56:32 -0800

Do data discs (CD or DVD) work? Judging from what appears to be the BIOS diagnostics code you're mentioning, the drive may be kaput, but, if data discs work, then not so much.

By: NinaLee

NinaLee — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:59:28 -0800

I re-enabled the auto-run as you suggested and everything works as before. Many thanks mattdini. I could not have done it without your help.

By: caddis

caddis — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:05:24 -0800

I suggest that you disable autorun for security reasons.