Benq EW1621 only reads self opening installation disks but not regular data disks

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers BenQ / Philips Writer
#1

INTRO

Very strange problem - at least for some one with little burning experience.

I’ve been using a Benq EW1621 for months now without any issues - it will even burn disks my Mac’s superDrive can’t, or will run a few error prone installation disks that fail at cretin points on my Dell’s DVD / CD drive.

But something happened to it today - I think after trying to read an old disk.

PROBLEM:

Both my Mac and my PC recognize that the drive is there. But the player will not read / mount any data disks - even ones I just burned with it before it ‘broke’.

The real strange thing is that it will read installation type disks fine - that is, disks that open up a program or an install screen automatically when inserted. The Benq drive will even mount those type of PC disks on the Mac with out a problem. It opens regular audio store CD’s, but not movie DVD’s.

When I insert a data disk - the light flashes several times, the machine makes a bunch of clicking type sounds - and then just stops.

ATTEMPTED FIXES:

I tried the drive on three different computers - 2 Macs and a PC. It exhibited the same errant behavior on all 3 machines.

The drive does have the latest firmware - 47N9, but I flashed it anyway to see if that might "reset’ it.

Finally, I unscrewed the bottom screws in an attempt to open the case, but couldn’t manage to un-house it (probably just as well). I wanted to check to see if something foreign might be in there - like a pice of label that once fell off a previous disk (not on the BenQ though).

Any suggestions or guidance very much appreciated.

#2

Can you copy stuff off those disks that you were able to read? See if you can play the cd or copy files off the installation disk that it can read.

The clicking noise that you mention sounds alot like what happened with my benq 1640, but the problem occurred after a power failure and the laser eye was the problem. However i wasnt able to read anything and your drive could, so your drive might/can be fixed.

Opening up the Benq EW1621 wasnt hard at all, there are 4 screws on the bottoms and 2 octaon screws covering the laser. I had to do this before to clean the lens, so keep trying if you want to open it up.

#3

Well - I finally got time to open up my faulty Benq drive and, sure enough, it was a label that had come off one of my disks!

Removing the label cleared the problem and the drive works as normal.