Starting today sometime, my Toshiba SD-R2512 had begun to refuse to read DVD type discs. The reason for this is beyond me, but I recently did a format and reinstall of XP Pro. Not long after that, my DVD-ROM didn't read DVDs anymore at all. I've tried DVD-R, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video but none worked and they all gave me the same problem.
When you put it in and it gets read, you hear it do that little thumping sound and hear faint beeps of the electronics working it normally does when it begins to spin up, except that it doesnt spin up at all, it just reads the disc a little bit or tries to read it about 3 times and following that, it stops doing anything. The drive becomes silent and the orange light stays lit and doesn't turn off. I don't know what would cause a drive to refuse to read DVDs but read CDs only.
I checked the device settings, took it out and used an air can on it in some spots it was a little bit dirty at and then when I put it back no luck. The few reasons I have for this is maybe the firmware (you don't have to be in Windows or DOS to observe this problem, so it is obviously either a firmware if the drive has a chip for it, or hardware problem). Drivers being the cause can't be the problem, so I'm sure it is firmware or just the drive is going bad. I'd hate to buy a new one (even though if I were to, I'd probably go for a diffrent brand than Toshiba, and have it a CD-RW/DVD-RW combination drive instead of just my CD-RW/DVD-ROM). One more thing I noticed is that when I uninstall the driver in the device manager then reinstall it, the system identifies the drive as a CD-ROM. It does not say DVD-ROM or anything. It does however say in the tray while the drivers are being loaded in that it is a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2512, however dispite this, it doesn't read DVDs. That led me to believe the drive is damaged or the firmware onboard it needs a refresh. Since I just did a format and reinstall of windows, I had no Antivirus software installed at that time and I was currently doing windows updates, the most vulnerable time for your machine I'm told. Should I even consider the possibility of an infection which effected the drive?
What I'd like to know is what can cause a problem like this? What makes a drive read one kind of disc perfectly good and not read another at all? If also possible, could someone point me at a page with some firmware designed for this drive?
I just bought a new keyboard and now this.
Oh well, it had a pretty good lifespan anyways. 
When you put it in and it gets read, you hear it do that little thumping sound and hear faint beeps of the electronics working it normally does when it begins to spin up, except that it doesnt spin up at all, it just reads the disc a little bit or tries to read it about 3 times and following that, it stops doing anything. The drive becomes silent and the orange light stays lit and doesn't turn off. I don't know what would cause a drive to refuse to read DVDs but read CDs only.
I checked the device settings, took it out and used an air can on it in some spots it was a little bit dirty at and then when I put it back no luck. The few reasons I have for this is maybe the firmware (you don't have to be in Windows or DOS to observe this problem, so it is obviously either a firmware if the drive has a chip for it, or hardware problem). Drivers being the cause can't be the problem, so I'm sure it is firmware or just the drive is going bad. I'd hate to buy a new one (even though if I were to, I'd probably go for a diffrent brand than Toshiba, and have it a CD-RW/DVD-RW combination drive instead of just my CD-RW/DVD-ROM). One more thing I noticed is that when I uninstall the driver in the device manager then reinstall it, the system identifies the drive as a CD-ROM. It does not say DVD-ROM or anything. It does however say in the tray while the drivers are being loaded in that it is a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2512, however dispite this, it doesn't read DVDs. That led me to believe the drive is damaged or the firmware onboard it needs a refresh. Since I just did a format and reinstall of windows, I had no Antivirus software installed at that time and I was currently doing windows updates, the most vulnerable time for your machine I'm told. Should I even consider the possibility of an infection which effected the drive?
What I'd like to know is what can cause a problem like this? What makes a drive read one kind of disc perfectly good and not read another at all? If also possible, could someone point me at a page with some firmware designed for this drive?
I just bought a new keyboard and now this.
Oh well, it had a pretty good lifespan anyways. 
