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Thread ID: 83307 2007-09-27 04:11:00 Dead CD drives george12 (7) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
595398 2007-09-27 04:11:00 I have a lot of HP Vectra VL420 SF computers (about 4 years old probably, they're P4 1.6GHz) and it seems that on about 3/4 of them, the slimline CD drives aren't working properly. They seem unable to boot off burnt CDs (nothing illegal, don't worry), but after a bit of trying they will boot off original ones.

They just spin up, spin down, spin up, spin down eternally, while the poor PC waits. They don't spin up very fast though, only to about 2x by the sound of it.

Is this a common problem with older slimline drives? Can I fix it somehow? Perhaps a careful clean of the laser?

If I have to replace 20 CD drives, I have a big problem...
george12 (7)
595399 2007-09-27 04:16:00 Very common.. :( with normal HP CD Drives too. Try a cotton bud on the lens, but apart from that...:badpc: wratterus (105)
595400 2007-09-27 04:19:00 Very common.. :( with normal HP CD Drives too. Try a cotton bud on the lens, but apart from that...:badpc:

:(

Thanks
george12 (7)
595401 2007-09-27 04:26:00 a lens cleaning CD might be easier

some older drives just weren't good at reading burnt CD's however.
dugimodo (138)
595402 2007-09-27 05:02:00 It's interesting - if I wait a VERY long time (20-30 mins) it brings some wierd characters up (while trying to boot off the CD) and when I press Enter it boots and installs Windows without a hitch.

This has happened on two of them now...
george12 (7)
595403 2007-09-27 05:39:00 Yea the old drives are a pain in the a*& to find compadable disks for them but Imation disk seem to work most of the time. Note try burning them at the lowest speed passable to. djmrman (12866)
595404 2007-09-27 09:39:00 Is the burnt CD a CDR or CDRW? Some drives refuse to read CDRW very well but cope fine with CDR disks. Rod J (451)
595405 2007-09-27 11:53:00 They're all CD-Rs.

I'll try and work out how many I can coax into working soon. The price of a replacement drive would mean all my profit gone for each PC that needed one :(
george12 (7)
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