Solved Unusual Problem with Portable Optical Drive


Content is not showing...laptop thinks it's a blank disc.
What I was referring too is that I don't think it has anything to do with any type of security protection on the DVDs.
 

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When you attach the optical drive to the laptop, how does it appear in Device Manager?

I don't have a lot of experience with external optical drives. (I have one, but it's an internal drive in an external enclosure.) But I'd be surprised if one that worked under 10 failed under 11.

I suspect that there's something a bit off with the laptop's 11 installation.
Haven't looked at DevMgr but it does show as a drive in FileMgr. The laptop originally had a 1TB drive. A week later I had the shop where I purchased it remove the ITB M2 stick and install a 2TB M2 stick. The shop installed Win11 Pro 23H2.:
 

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    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
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    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
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    AMD Ryzen 7
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I truly appreciate all of your responses but I think I'm hub deep in mud and spinning my tires. I'm gonna try a new Dell optical drive via Amazon (returnable) and see what happens, If that doesn't work it may be time to go the warranty repair route. And if that happens it may be time to clone the disc to a USB stick on the desktop so I can install the app on the laptop.
 

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What I was referring too is that I don't think it has anything to do with any type of security protection on the DVDs.
I agree
 

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    Dell
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I still think it may be a power supply problem. If the laser isn't getting the needed power it's not going to be able to read the disk. Do you have a powered USB hub you could try it on? I know for sure that USB DVD drives work in Windows 11. I have three of them and they all work good. Two are like the ones you find in laptops and one is a 5 1/4" drive.
No, no powered hub or USB Y adapter. It DOES show up in DevMgr. Thanks.
 
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System One

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    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
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    Dell
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    AMD Ryzen 7
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    16gb
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    M2 2TB SSD
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No, no powered hub or USB Y adapter. Thanks.
You don't have the Y cable the drive came with or a replacement? That very well may be your problem. As I recall you said it is a old drive. With the wear on the laser lens and the moving parts have it may pay you to go ahead buy a new drive. Over the years I have gone through a few DVD players because the lasers got to weak and stopped reading my disk.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-10700K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
    Memory
    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SAM0A87 Samsung SAM0D32
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 1TB
    Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
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    750 Watts (62.5A)
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    PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
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    Logitech K270
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    Logitech M185
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-S
    Memory
    16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
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    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe
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    Logitek M185
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    Logitek K270
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In all the time it took you to write all these posts you could have easily slapped in a different CD to if the disk itself is the issue 🤷‍♂️
BTW, have you tried a music CD, or game disc? The point here is to see if the drive recognizes other CDs?
 

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  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built
    CPU
    Intel i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Xtreme
    Memory
    32G (4x8) DDR4 Corsair RGB Dominator Platinum (3600Mhz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon (XFX MERC 310) RX 7900XT
    Sound Card
    Onboard (ESS Sabre HiFi using Realtek drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27-inch Eizo Color Edge - CG2700X
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    5 Samsung SSD drives: 2X 970 NVME (512 & 1TB), 3X EVO SATA (2X 2TB, 1X 1TB)
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    EVGA Super Nova I000 G2 (1000 watt)
    Case
    Cooler Master H500M
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    Corsair H115i Elite Capellix XT
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    Logitech Craft
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    500mb Download. 11mb Upload
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    System used for gaming, photography, music, school.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
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    Laptop
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    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 165U vPro® Processor
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    Vendor
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    32 GB LPDDR5X-6400MHz (Soldered)
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    Intel Graphics
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    14" 2.8K OLED, Anti Reflection, Touch, HDR 500, 400 nits, 120Hz
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    100MB
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    202. Build Your Own laptop.
    vPro Certified Model: vPro Enterprise
You don't have the Y cable the drive came with or a replacement? That very well may be your problem. As I recall you said it is a old drive. With the wear on the laser lens and the moving parts have it may pay you to go ahead buy a new drive. Over the years I have gone through a few DVD players because the lasers got to weak and stopped reading my disk.
IF It came with that it's long gone. Just ordered one on Amazon,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    M2 2TB SSD
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    ioBit
You don't have the Y cable the drive came with or a replacement? That very well may be your problem. As I recall you said it is a old drive. With the wear on the laser lens and the moving parts have it may pay you to go ahead buy a new drive. Over the years I have gone through a few DVD players because the lasers got to weak and stopped reading my disk.
It'd be a LOT simpler if it didn't work on either PC.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    M2 2TB SSD
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    ioBit
In all the time it took you to write all these posts you could have easily slapped in a different CD to if the disk itself is the issue 🤷‍♂️
Tried several discs...no joy. All discs work properly in the portable drive when plugged into the Win10 desktop.
 

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System One

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    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
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    Dell
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    AMD Ryzen 7
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    16gb
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    M2 2TB SSD
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Ok, I get you.

Good luck.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built
    CPU
    Intel i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Xtreme
    Memory
    32G (4x8) DDR4 Corsair RGB Dominator Platinum (3600Mhz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon (XFX MERC 310) RX 7900XT
    Sound Card
    Onboard (ESS Sabre HiFi using Realtek drivers)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    27-inch Eizo Color Edge - CG2700X
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    5 Samsung SSD drives: 2X 970 NVME (512 & 1TB), 3X EVO SATA (2X 2TB, 1X 1TB)
    PSU
    EVGA Super Nova I000 G2 (1000 watt)
    Case
    Cooler Master H500M
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    Corsair H115i Elite Capellix XT
    Keyboard
    Logitech Craft
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    System used for gaming, photography, music, school.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (Build 22631.4391)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 165U vPro® Processor
    Motherboard
    Vendor
    Memory
    32 GB LPDDR5X-6400MHz (Soldered)
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED, Anti Reflection, Touch, HDR 500, 400 nits, 120Hz
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Performance TLC Opal
    PSU
    Vendor
    Case
    Lenovo
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    Touchpad: Haptic Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, Black with Fingerprint Reader and WWAN
    Internet Speed
    100MB
    Browser
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    Antivirus
    Windows Security
    Other Info
    202. Build Your Own laptop.
    vPro Certified Model: vPro Enterprise
We do not have the visuals, but searching around indicates these Optical Drives have a light to indicate lack of USB power and are supplied with 2 USB-A plugs. As the manual says in post #5.

USB 2 supplies up to 500 mA, USB 3 900 mA as standard, though most older laptops will have "always on charger USB 3 port" with maybe twice that like 1.8 A, my old laptop is like that

Another possibility is a driver modifier that may have been installed by the Laptop/PC manufacturer, again later versions of Windows do not like this and the Optical drive will not work.
On my old Laptop it had such a driver modifier which was there for making backup discs of the recovery partition. No use any more so the Burning App was uninstalled and that removed the driver modifier, the drive worked again.
That is easy to check with the Device Manager, there should only be one standard driver which if I remember correctly is CDROM.SYS that may have changed name in Windows 11.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
It'd be a LOT simpler if it didn't work on either PC.
The drive is old and you can be sure the laser is getting weak and probably needs the extra power that the Y cable will provide. My guess is that the USB power output on the new laptop is not enough to fully power the drive. When you get the Y cable you'll know for sure if it's just a power supply problem.
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec B746
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-10700K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4/ax
    Memory
    16GB (8GB PC4-19200 DDR4 SDRAM x2)
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI
    Sound Card
    Realtek Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung SAM0A87 Samsung SAM0D32
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    NVMe WDC WDS100T2B0C-00PXH0 1TB
    Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB
    PSU
    750 Watts (62.5A)
    Case
    PowerSpec/Lian Li ATX 205
    Keyboard
    Logitech K270
    Mouse
    Logitech M185
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge and Firefox
    Antivirus
    ESET Internet Security
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Canary Channel
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PowerSpec G156
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    AsusTeK Prime B360M-S
    Memory
    16 MB DDR 4-2666
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" Speptre HDMI 75Hz
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 EVO 500GB NVMe
    Mouse
    Logitek M185
    Keyboard
    Logitek K270
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge and Edge Canary
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
In all the time it took you to write all these posts you could have easily slapped in a different CD to if the disk itself is the

The drive is old and you can be sure the laser is getting week and probably needs the extra power that the Y cable will provide. My guess is that the USB power output on the new laptop is not enough to fully power the drive. When you get the Y cable you'll know for sure if it's just a power supply problem.
Yes, we'll see but that doesn't explain why it's working on on my 5-yr old (approx) Win10 desktop. Cable should be here sometime this week. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    M2 2TB SSD
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    ioBit
Follow-Up: I received the dual-USB 'Y' cable I ordered a few days ago and that did the trick. The optical drive now correctly reads the discs. Thanks for the help. Truly appreciated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
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    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    16gb
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    M2 2TB SSD
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    ioBit
So it was a power issue after all?

Please mark the thread as solved.
 

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  • OS
    Windows 11 26100.3025
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    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Amd Threadripper 7970X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte TRX50 Aero D
    Memory
    128GB (4 X 32) G.Skill DDR5 6400 (RDIMM)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 4090 OC
    Sound Card
    none (USB to speakers), Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Philips 27E1N8900 OLED
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @ 60Hz
    Hard Drives
    Crucial T700 2TB M.2 NVME SSD
    WD 4TB Blue SATA SSD
    Seagate 18TB IronWolf Pro
    PSU
    BeQuiet! Straight Power 12 1500W
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    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo XL
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    SilverStone Technology XE360-TR5, with 3 Phanteks T30 fans
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    Logitech K120 (wired)
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    Internet Speed
    2000/300 Mbps (down/up)
  • Operating System
    windows 11 26100.3025
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    homebuilt
    CPU
    Intel I9-13900K
    Motherboard
    Asus RoG Strix Z690-E
    Memory
    64GB G.Skill DDR5-6000
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte RTX 3090 ti
    Sound Card
    built in Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus PA329C
    Screen Resolution
    3840 X 2160 @60Hz
    Hard Drives
    WDC SN850 1TB
    8TB Seagate Ironwolf
    4TB Seagate Ironwolf
    PSU
    eVGA SuperNOVA 1300 GT
    Case
    Lian Li 011 Dynamic Evo
    Cooling
    Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX Liquid CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech M500s (wired)
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120 (wired)
So it was a power issue after all?

Please mark the thread as solved.i
So it would seem. I think I'm going to pickup a new optical anyway. I don't have an unused USB ports on the laptop or the USB on the monitor. I'll keep the old drive as a spare. Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro @2N23
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    16gb
    Hard Drives
    M2 2TB SSD
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    ioBit
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