I reloaded xp on to my laptop which went fine.Then when i put a dvd disc into my cd/dvdrw it wouldn't read it, when i put in a cd it will read it no problem.I have tried dvd discs with movies, data and photos and it wont even recognise theres a disc in the drive

OK, first of all you said you put a blank DvD in the drive. Make sure your dell has a DvD writer. Look on the drawer of the drive and see does it say DvDrw or DvDROM. It has to say Rw for rewritable and not ROM for Read Only Media. Maybe you have a Combo Drive that is DvDrom and CDrw which means it will read both DvD's and Cd's but in can only Write CD's.

If in fact you do have a DvD writer make sure you're not trying to put a Blue Ray disc in the drive.

Lastly, remove the DvD from the drive. Click Start/My Computer. Notice what it brings up as to your DvD Drive. Does it Say DvDrw or just plain ole DvD. DvD means it will only read a DvD.

Not all DVD Players are compatible with DVD-RWs. Most that I've seen aren't.

All except the bluray ones.

It may the problem of lense inside DVDRW which helps to read the cd if the lense get spoilt the DVDRW wont detect burnt discs

Sounds like its not closing the sesion.

This problem could be in the laser light. Before that, please clean your read head of player and lens.

http://www.amazon.com/Memorex-CD-DVD-Player-Laser-Lens-Cleaner/dp/B00008EM7U

gud luck.
saumya.

Or you talking about burning DVD or CD.

Do do a Google search on XP Burner this is a good software for FREE software for burner CD. For DVD, go to slysoft.com and get a free version of their software and see if you like it for 30 days.

I hope this helps. Please rate

I have a Pioneer DVDRW DVR-K16, in a sony dv81114Notebook. Running Windows XP. It cannot play dvd's and cd's, It will recognize blank CD-R's but when I insert a DVD-R it say's no disc installed. I have firmware version 1.15.

Hi,
That sound to me like a defective dvdrw because it can't read the dvd an try to re read and re read and lock the computer until you take it out.

Solution:

Tools:
+ Small screwdriver
-- Small screwdriver

Buy a new or used dvdrw for laptop, first take out the laptop battery. Locate the two screws at bottom of your laptop, take them out, whit a paper clip open the dvdrw from a small hole in front of it, pull the defective dvdrw out, if the front plastic face plate is diferent from yours you can change them using a small - screwdriver (be carefull). If you dvdrw have a smalls canals at sides in your defective dvdrw take them out and put them in the new one two, Install the new dvdrw by slowly pushing in to the dvdrw hole until it take its place, put the two screw drivers back + the battery and you shuold be on your way. Let us know. Obed

This device is meant only for CDs. However, the drive is an internal CDRW with IDE interface. You can substitute some DVDRW drives, but some DVD drives are picky about voltage and amperage. This enclosure is on the weak side for most DVDRW drives. You'll want to find a DVDRW that can work on as low as 8VDC on the 12VDC line. And the drive can't draw any more than .75A on the 12VDC line either. If the drive requires higher amounts, yor system may only recognize the drive as being connected to your system, but it'll never have the power to read the disc, and just kick it out after spinning the disc around for a short time.