problems with my audio and data CD

[lapolka37]

It seems that suddenly my DVD-RW(F) unit does not recognize audio and data cd. I have a VGN-A397XP notebook with all the preinstalled drivers and programms. Any kind of suggestion?

Best regards
Lampros:smileysad:

[kee-lo_]

Try cleaning the lens with a lens cleaner, or solution

[lapolka37]

Thanks for the advise. I'll try it, even I was afraid to do so, because of the notice "do not touch the lens".
But why don't have the same problems with my video's?

Lampros

[stephanius]

Indeed, do not touch the lens.

DVD and CD reading are different parts of the drive's reading/writing head that can fail seperate from each other. That means you can have a drives CD-laser dead for example, and yet it can read DVD's fine.

I suggest you test a bit further, using serveral factory made (not burned but manufactured), clean and unscratched CD's without any kind of copyprotection notice to see if you get signs of life. This is mostly to avoid that you have one or two bad, maybe burned discs that can not be read but the drive might be fine. If you have tested with a couple of suitable discs and can not read any of them, call Vaio-Link to arrange a repair.

[kee-lo_]

Absolutely don't touch the lens with bare hands, but with a lint free cloth and solution is fine.

But as Dilbert said, best to do some of the things he suggested

[lapolka37]

Well... I tried some of my manufactured (not burned) audio cds. Some of them work fine. So, I suspect that it must not be a problem with my SONY DVD/CD-ROM drive (DW-D56A).
Others do not work fine; I have to insert them into the unit, then to eject them, and to insert them again into the unit, in order to play.
There is a third category that I can not inport them in SonicStage. Suddenly, the importing process is stopped, and the following message appears "An error occured while preparing to import the CD. Try again". And nothing works, even I try again. What does this mean? Is this a signal of copy protection?
There is a fourth category of my manufactured audio cds that are not recognizable from my dvd/cd-rom drive.
The strange thing is that all of the above categories of my manufactured audio cds are working fine in my HP computer.

Thanks to Dilbert and Kee-Lo for their suggestions
Lampros

[Blencogo]

Hi Lampros,

I'm afraid there are a lot of faulty DW-D56A drives. If you look back through this forum, you will see that there does not seem to be a solution - the only answer seems to be replacing the drive.

Are you still within the warranty period?

[lapolka37]

I've red the complaints in this forum about this kind of drive. Two months now, my warranty is out of date. Does anybody know how much will cost, in euro, a new drive?

Thanks
Lampros