Dell XPS 420 Drive Problems, Optical drive problems, Problems writing to an optical drive

book.book Page 62 Tuesday, November 27, 2007 10:29 AM

Drive Problems

CAUTION: Before you begin any of the procedures in this section, follow the safety instructions in the Product Information Guide.

E N S U R E T H A T M I C R O S O F T ® W I N D O W S ® R E C O G N I Z E S T H E D R I V E —

• Click the Windows Vista Start button™ and click Computer.

If the drive is not listed, perform a full scan with your antivirus software to check for and remove viruses. Viruses can sometimes prevent Windows from recognizing the drive.

TE S T T H E D R I V E —

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

•Insert a bootable floppy disk and restart the computer.

C L E A N T H E D R I V E O R D I S K — See "Cleaning Your Computer" on page 191.

C H E C K T H E C A B L E C O N N E C T I O N S

R U N T H E H A R D W A R E TR O U B L E S H O O T E R — See "Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems in the Microsoft Windows Vista™ Operating System" on page 93.

R U N T H E D E L L D I A G N O S T I C S — See "Dell Diagnostics" on page 86.

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.

A D J U S T T H E W I N D O W S V O L U M E C O N T R O L —

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

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

•Ensure that the sound is not muted by clicking any boxes that are checked.

C H E C K T H E S P E A K E R S A N D S U B W O O F E R — See "Sound and Speaker Problems" on page 72.

Problems writing to an optical drive

C L O S E O T H E R P R O G R A M S — 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.

TU R N O F F S T A N D B Y M O D E I N W I N D O W S B E F O R E W R I T I N G T O A D I S C — See "Configuring Power Management Settings" on page 57 or search for the keyword standby in Windows Help and Support for information on power management modes.

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Troubleshooting