external dvd drive

[kags]

a couple of weeks ago I posted a query when my pc would not recognise a newly installed internal dvd drive

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Comp uters/Question750960.html

despite all the useful answers, nothing worked, so I contacted the manufacturer. They had me do pretty much all the same things that had been suggested on here, and when they didn't work they told me to take it back to PC World.
I did just that, and swapped it for an external dvd writer. Just plugged it in and the exact same thing has happened. It's in the device manager but it says "device driver not loaded correctly" and I can't use the drive.

So the problem is obviously with my pc. My question is, if I do the one thing I am able to do myself - wipe the hard drive and re-install Windows, is that likely to solve it? Or am I going to have to give in and get a tecchie to look at it?

[trish432]

Before you do anything else, why don`t you try the external dvd writer on someone else`s computer and see if it works.
At least then, you will know for sure if it is a fault with your computer.

[ACtheTROLL]

It's possible that something is corrupt equally I suppose it could be the machine (unlikely)

I can't remember what was suggested - but a full driver update seems a good idea

first
I know this is sort of stupid given your problem - I'd burn a knoppix live CD
(you could use ubuntu)
http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.ht ml
perhaps a chum would do the deed

it boots directly from the cd/dvd without involving windows at all

should at least prove the point

[kags]

I've plugged it into my son's laptop - it worked immediately.

I checked all the drivers last time - I ran a full driver check and the dvd drive came up as fully up to date. LG - the manufacturer also took me through the whole process and concluded the driver was up to date too.
I'll have a go at what you suggest though - I can use the nice new external rewriter on the laptop!

[trish432]

i would try reinstalling windows, as you suggested, if you`ve backed up anything you need, there`s nothing to lose by trying.
This is assuming you have another cd/dvd drive to boot the windows disc from.

[kags]

hmmm. Thank you trish432 for pointing out a pretty fundamental flaw in my plan. I am taking the risk of not being able to reload anything at all.