Dell E6500 Optical drive problems, Problems writing to an optical drive, Hard drive problems

Test the drive

•Insert another disc to eliminate the possibility that the original drive is defective.

•Insert a bootable floppy disk and restart the computer.

Clean the drive or disk

For information on cleaning your computer, see the Dell™ Technology Guide on your computer or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com.

Check the cable connections

Run the Hardware Troubleshooter

See Hardware Troubleshooter.

Run the Dell Diagnostics

See Dell™ Diagnostics.

Optical drive problems

NOTE: High-speed optical drive vibration is normal and may cause noise, which does not indicate a defect in the drive or the media.

NOTE: Because of different regions worldwide and different disc formats, not all DVD titles work in all DVD drives.

Adjust the Windows volume control

•Click the speaker icon in the lower-right corner of your screen.

•Ensure the volume is turned up by clicking the slidebar and dragging it up.

•Ensure the sound is not muted by un-checking any checked boxes.

Check the speakers and subwoofer

See Sound and Speaker Problems.

Problems writing to an optical drive

Close other programs

The optical drive must receive a steady stream of data during the writing process. If the stream is interrupted, an error occurs. Try closing all programs before you write to the optical.

Turn off standby mode in Windows before writing to a disc

For information about setting power options, see the Dell™ Technology Guide on your computer or on the Dell Support website at support.dell.com. You can also search for the keyword standby in Windows Help and Support for information on power management modes.

Hard drive problems

Run Check Disk

Windows XP: