LITE-ON DVDRW LH-18A1P Not reading

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers LiteOn / PLDS / Sony Writer
#1

Hi all,

Christmas past and got given a lh-18A1P to replace my old… very very old, drive.
I’ve hooked it up to IDE2 as a master drive, I was going to set it as a slave on the HDD cable but the cable isnt long enough to reach.

I let window’s do it’s thing and install the default driver’s for it.

Put the CD that came with the drive into the machine (nero 7 essentials), waited, and suddenly the drive make’s this god awfull noise for quite a while. Then it doesnt do an autorun, it just open’s the window for what’s on the CD, I click on the setup file and it just freeze’s there as the drive make’s more noise. Same thing as I click on different folder’s too, I try to run the setup and it start’s making even more noise then tell’s me it’s not an executable.

I figure fair enough, bad CD, I put the same CD into my sister’s computer and it read’s it no problem, even load’s the autorun with the nice splash screen welcome.

I try several different CD’s and same thing, nothing, just a lot of noise.

Did a lot of searching and found only one post about the possibility of the drive itself being broken/corrupt. Sent it back to the people we got it from and asked them to try/test it out for a replacement. They say it’s fine.
So either they didnt do any test’s or I’ve done something wrong in setup, or I’m missing something completely.

Any help would be great, and more information you need just let me know, any program’s you want me to run for a test, I’ll download & do whatever.
Just help me get this drive kicking over :slight_smile:

First post and had to be a question, sorry about that.
Merry Christmas btw

::EDIT::

Just saw your big FAQ on the LITEON drives, having a read now.

#2

Hi milkpizza and welcome to cdfreaks :slight_smile:

If you drive was very old, how old is your system? I ask because it could be a power supply issue. What’s your power supply wattage and how old is it?

#3

The system was bought quite recently, around June this year.
but because I already had a CD drive from my previous computer, we just tried to save a little money and kept the drive/hdd/keyboard/mouse/floppy.
We did however get a new HDD with the computer. Old one is a little 40mb one :slight_smile:

I’ve flicked through your FAQ and ran the Kprobe program, the burst rate is a little under 7mb. So Im guessing that’s bad.
The tutorial suggests it could be a DMA problem, so I looked at the IDE channel’s properties (it looked nothing like the tutorial btw)
Took me a while to find it, but these are my options…

I have the tab’s at the top listed as…
‘Primary Channel’ *Which has my HDD
’Secondary Channel’ *Which has the DVD

On the Primary Channel, transfer mode is listing - 'Ultra DMA 5 - Ultra100’
It has the checkbox under it for ‘let BIOS select transfer mode’ checked.
When I uncheck it, I get the following choices from the drop down…
‘Ultra DMA 5 - Ultra100’ <— Already selected
Ultra DMA 4 - Ultra66
Ultra DMA 3
Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra33
Ultra DMA 1
Ultra DMA 0
Multi-word DMA 2
Multi-word DMA 1
Multi-word DMA 0
PIO Mode

These checkbox’s are ticked
Let BIOS select transfer mode
Enable read caching
Enable write caching

This one is greyed out-
Enable command queuing

On the Secondary Channel, the Transfer Mode currently selected is 'Ultra DMA 4 - Ultra66’
With a checkbox selected saying ‘Let BIOS select transfer mode’

Other option’s are… (If I uncheck the box)
Ultra DMA 3
Ultra DMA 2 - Ultra33
Ultra DMA 1
Ultra DMA 0
Multi-word DMA 2
Multi-word DMA 1
Multi-word DMA 0
PIO Mode

Under the Drop down menu I only have 1 checkbox active and 3 inactive.
The active one is 'Let BIOS select transfer mode’
The inactive one’s are…
Enable read caching
Enable write caching
Enable command queuing

I hope that all made sense… I look over it and just go blank.

::EDIT::

Forgot to add the PSU… Just reading the sticker on it, it say’s Cooler Master… and a lot of numbers hehe, Which one did you want? want me to just list it all out?

#4

Just did a search on the Power supply model number, it’s 350W

#5

7Mb is definitely low for the burst rate but UDMA 4 is fine for the DMA. Try Nero CD/DVD Speed and see what the burst rate is like with a DVD disc in the drive.

Make sure no othere drive is on the secondary IDE lead.

#6

I’d love to try that… but Nero is still on the CD hehe. I can’t install anything because the drive just refuses to access the disk long enough for me to install anything.

Made me giggle when I read your suggestion though. :bigsmile:

Checked the IDE lead, it is only connected from one end to the other, motherboard -> DVD

#7

You can get it free, here:
http://www.cdspeed2000.com

#8

Oh, I feel a right moron now. Sorry for giggling. :o

Missread it. I’ll get right on that.

#9

Ok, downloaded the ‘Nero CD-DVD Speed’ program.

Put a DVD into the drive, should I put a movie or a game in the drive? I had Prey on hand which was on dvd.

Ran it, and got the strangest message…

‘No Cd-ROM drives found.’

#10

It needs to be an unprotected disc. ‘No Cd-ROM drives found.’ is a strange message. :confused:

#11

Try another ide cable, swap it out for an 80 udma type.

#12

I’ve just tried something I hadnt really thought to try.

I’ve taken the DVD and hooked it up as a slave to the HDD’s cable.
It doesnt sit in the machine because the cable doesnt reach far enough, so I’ve sat it on a box just on the outside of the machine.

It’s working fine.

Could this be a problem with the IDE cable I was using?

#13

As robbi says, it must be an 80 wire cable, but you wouldn’t have gotten UDMA 4 unless the current cable was an 80 wire cable.

#14

Ok, ah. I’ve hit another small snag.

With the DVD connected as a Slave to the HDD’s cable.
I’ve run the Kprobe program again and checked the burst rate, it’s saying 6.26mb/s…

#15

I managed to get the Nero CD-DVD Speed test program working.

Here are the results.
(tried using the manage attachments button below but it came back with some error)

Anyway, it’s all working now, I’ll have to buy a new cable to get it back into the machine instead of sitting on a box.

Thank you all very much for your help on this. :slight_smile: You’ve been great.

Merry Christmas & Happy new year too all of you. :bigsmile: