Rooney9 SG my desktop PC cannot read VCD but can read DVD. I can play DVD games or DVD movies on my PC still. my laptop cannot do both, why eh?
LatecomerX SG Likely that the CD laser diode is dead. From what I know, a combo drive that reads CDs and DVDs uses different lasers for each of them, so it's possible that one of the laser diode is damaged while the other remains functional.Sources: http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/dvdrom-only-reads-cds/148592.html http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Challenges+Of+CD-RW/DVD+Combo+Drive+Design-a077058317 http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/removable-media-drives/207800-combo-drive-reads-dvds-but-not-cd-roms-audio-cds.html http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/removable-media-drives/308688-dvd-rom-can-read-cd-but-cant-read-dvd.html http://forums.techarena.in/xp-hardware/1058137.htm http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic27674.html http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080904002507AARM31x
LatecomerX SG so what can I do about it? sent for repairs?Replace the drive. A new one would cost around $50.