LG Lightscribe DVD problems

[perfectp51]

Hi everyone,
I'm a new subscriber so please forgive my lack of knowledge.
I have an internal LG Lightscribe DVD writer which has worked well until yesterday when between discs it suddenly decided that it didn't want to recognise that it had a disc loaded. It doesn't matter if it is a blank disc or pre-recorded, or if it is writing the disc or upside down for the label, either way it just opens the tray and says put a disc in.... Any suggestions??

Thanks

[LTR12101B]

Any changes?
Protected software, virtual CD/DVD emulators etc.

What windows version?
Most likely is disruption due to a software conflict, though it could be a dead drive - have you tried both CD and DVD, as sometimes the drive can lose one of the lasers - I had a DVD-ROM that ended up only reading CD.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060 - The Upper/lower filters are a common point of conflict, though it would seem that an error message should be the result, so perhaps this isn't it - NB. this article refers to XP, Vista probably has it's own set of problems.

If you can find any Linux LiveCD (sometimes coverdisk) then try a CD boot - actually a Windows CD boot would work just as well.

If CD boot works, then the problem is in the software installation. If CD boot doesn't work, then the problem is most likely hardware, and if the drive is capable of making a software controlled eject, that throws suspicion on the drive, rather than the cable.

[perfectp51]

Thank you for your reply, sorry i didn't answer sooner but been away.
Running XP with sp2.
Software controlled ejection is ok
Not tried CD so will try it later.
Thank you for your help

[LTR12101B]

You may need to alter BIOS settings to support CD booting, as if the order is set to boot the CD at any stage after the the hard disk is tried, CD will not be booted once the hadr disk is bootable (this works fine for a new setup).

If you want to boot a CD in preference to hard disk, then it needs to be higher in the booting order, and unless you regularly use bootable CD, this option tends to add a few seconds to the boot sequence as the optical drive is checked.