Specifications

Click Start ® 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.
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Test the drive —
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l Insert another floppy disk, CD, DVD, or BD to eliminate the possibility that the original media is defective.
l Insert a bootable floppy disk and restart the computer.
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Clean the drive or disk —
See Cleaning Your Computer.
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Ensure that the CD, DVD, or BD media is snapped onto the spindle 
Check the cable connections 
Check for hardware incompatibilities —
See Troubleshooting Software and Hardware Problems in the Microsoft® Windows® XPandMicrosoftWindowsVista™OperatingSystems.
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Run the Dell Diagnostics —
See Dell Diagnostics.
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Optical drive problems
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Problems writing to a CD-RW, DVD+/-RW, or BD-RE drive
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Close other programs —
CD-RW, DVD+/-RW, and BD-RE drives must receive a steady stream of data when writing. If the stream is interrupted, an error occurs. Try closing all programs
before you write to the drive.
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Turn off Sleep state in Windows before writing to a CD/DVD/BD disc —
See Standby and Sleep Mode for information on Sleep state.
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Change the write speed to a slower rate —
See the help files for your CD, DVD, or BD creation software.
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The drive tray cannot eject
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1. Ensure that the computer is shut down.
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2. Straighten a paper clip and insert one end into the eject hole at the front of the drive, then push firmly until the tray is partially ejected.
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3. Gently pull out the tray until it stops.
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The drive makes an unfamiliar scraping or grinding sound
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.