Whats gone wrong

[Jam Rectified]

Hi - would appreciate some help if possible..
I have a HP 640C DVD writer which seemed to be working OK, but just recently it has been playing up and now it doesn't recognise any DVD's at all , not backed up ones or originals, the green light just comes on and stays on for a while and eventually goes out. I tried an audio CD which does start playing but jogs a bit...I recently had Daemon tools v4 installed and have uninstalled it now and got rid of the virtual drives so I am not sure if that is the problem or not. I have been searching different forums to see if I can find anything to help but still no joy. I have updated the firmware to JS04 but that has not helped and I was readin another thread about looking at the DMA settings for the primary and secondary IDE controllers and that is when I spotted that I seem to have 2 primary IDE controllers which doesn't seem normal. Now I am not a computer numpty but I have reached the limit of my knowledge now and would appreciate some help. I believe that the drive itself isn't the best and part of me wonders whether it has just died - any thoughts please???

[soup]

I can help you out as far as the DMA goes.

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=61905.

[Jam Rectified]

Thanks Soup, I found that after posting and a link to Nero Infotool which I have run and it is not showing that I even have a DVD in the drive.....Wondering whether to crack open the box and have a look and see if there is anything caught up in there..

[codajohn]

What did the IDE Controller Properties Advanced Setting show in your Device Manage?

[MikeyBK]

Hey Jam,
I've had Hp DVD drives that just start to go haywire also. First was a DVD-ROM drive that all of a sudden couldn't see/read DVDs, but it could see/play CDs!? So essentially it became a CD-ROM drive. It was made by LG.
Then my HP 740b DVD-RW drive just recently started to take twice as long to load up the DVD and it started to see the Verbatim 16X discs as only 4X!?

The good news is that DVD-RWs are now so low in cost that you can get a new one for around $40-$50 bucks. I just recently got a Sony DRU-810 (re-badged BenQ 1640) for $50 bucks, well I actually only paid $15 bucks for it because I had $35 bonus certificates! Then just last month I got a new BenQ 1655 w/light scribe for only $49.99 from Newegg.com>
Both are fantastic and lightning quick.

I remember seeing several DVD-RWs on sale in today's Sunday ads from CompUSA, Circuit City, and/or Best Buys, so I'm sure if that HP 640 is on it's last leg, you'll be just fine without it and getting a new one.

[Jam Rectified]

The IDE settings seem to be fine - set at UDMA not PIO - I am beginning to think that the drive is knackered mechanically as it makes a bit of a racket even when I close the door with nothing in there. Also, sometimes when I open the door it opens and closes straight away!!!! Can anyone make any other suggestions about what I can do with it? I have now ordered an external DVD writer anyway as I am lost without one... Can anyone help me or let me know the best way to disable the drive so that it does not register on the system. Even when booting up it must be scanning the drive and hangs for a couple of mins until the green light goes out beforeit continues booting up. It really isn't a happy bunny.

Cheers

Jam R