Win 7 Home 32-bit PC can't read DVDs written by Win 7 64-bit PC

[Efdy]

*edit* I was mixed up when I started this topic. It is only about making an old internal DVD-ROM drive read DWD+RW discs. The drive is HL-DT-ST DVD ROM GDR8162B. There is a screenshot with info about the drive added to this post.

The computer is DELL Dimension 4600 with Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit installed on it. It was a clean install of Windows 7, or whatever you call it when you install Windows to a formatted HDD that had everything that was already there wiped off it, not an upgrade from a previous version of Windows. The drive this topic is about came with the desktop computer when it was first purchased.

All the stuff I wrote between here and where F22 Simpilot posted a HWiNFO screenshot and asked me to run HWiNFO can be ignored, I guess. Sorry about all that.


Hello. My desktop listed as the second computer in my specs thing, Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit, has a DVD ROM drive and a DVD RW drive. Neither DVD drive detects any disks I saved stuff to using the other computer with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Both DVD drives read commercial DVDs and CDs and all the DVD disks I saved stuff on when the other computer was running Windows XP. It has been like this since I installed Windows 7 on both computers a long time ago. I tried uninstalling the DVD drives on the older computer with Windows Home Premium 32-bit and restarting the computer. The drivers listed in Device Manager look like the same version as the newest ones there are to download anywhere.

I thought since they were both Windows 7 computers, the DVDs I saved files on with the computer I used daily (Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) would be readable on the Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit computer. Is that not right? Is there anything anyone knows that I could do to be able to read the DVDs I have stuff saved on?

Just to say, the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit desktop died. I ordered a new Windows 10 Pro computer from CUKUSA that won't be delivered for a while because I could never get the computer I bought stuff to build last year to work. $2000 worth of stuff just setting there. I was trying to move forward, not just keep using Windows 7 forever, but right now all I have is this 16-year-old computer to use, so I was trying to get some files from the DVDs I saved stuff to with the Win 7 Ult x64 desktop I had been using daily for the past however many years.

Do you think those DVDs I have stuff saved on from the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit computer will be readable with the Windows 10 computers when the CUKUSA one finally gets here or if I ever manage to get the one I tried to build functioning? The CUKUSA will have Windows 10 Pro 64-bit installed and the home build I can't get to work has Windows 10 Home purchased for it.

Thank you for reading this. I appreciate it.

May I also just add this about it? You know how when you put a blank DVD in, and Windows asks if you want to use it like a flash drive that you can keep writing to and deleting from, or whatever, or like a read only DVD that can't be rewritten to which might be readable on a wider range of devices or something like that? It's both kinds of DVDs that the DVD drives in the Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit desktop PC won't read or detect or whatever. It just acts like there's no disk in the drives.

 

[wither 2]

Shouldn't make any difference which OS you used.

What process did you use to transfer the data to the discs?

Do the drives show up in Computer? If so, if you wait maybe five minutes after inserting a disc, does it show up?

Do you have the latest firmware (not the driver) for your drives?

 

[Efdy]

Hello,
Thank you for taking time to try to help me.

I apologize for this. The computer I am talking about, the DELL Dimension 4600 with Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit, does not have a DVD ROM drive and a DVD RW drive. It has a DVD ROM drive and a CD RW drive. And the oldest disks with files saved to them that I mentioned both drives do read are not DVDs. They are CDs. I reckon it was just by chance that I only tried music CDs and no movie DVDs in that CD RW drive to see if the drives were recognizing commercially created disks. I'm sorry for not paying proper attention to what I reported in my previous post.

When I realized one of these two drives is a CD RW drive, not a DVD RW drive, I remembered using an LG external DVD RW drive with this computer a long time ago. I still had it in a box of old computer stuff. It works for all the disks I have tried putting in it so far including the ones I was saying the internal drives won't read, detect, or whatever.

So this only pertains to one internal DVD ROM drive, HL-DT-ST DVD ROM GDR8162B. It was in the DELL Dimension 4600 computer when I purchased it sixteen years ago. It plays music CDs and movie DVDs, and it also just read and let me access files saved to two DVD-R disks, but it doesn't recognize, detect, read, or whatever any DVD+RW disks.

"Shouldn't make any difference which OS you used."

Okay.

"What process did you use to transfer the data to the discs?"

I don't know what you mean. When I put blank DVDs in, I think a window would pop up asking stuff like I wrote in my previous post. It said something like do you want to use the disk like a flash drive or like DVD that you can't rewrite on, which more devices would be likely to be able to read. I didn't use any third party software to write to disks, just whatever Windows can do. Sometimes I selected the option to make the DVD disk so I could add and delete stuff and sometimes I selected the option to make the DVD disk read only and put about 4GB of stuff on it to save permanently. In either case I would copy and paste or drag and drop the files to be written to the DVD disk into the window that showed what was on the DVD in the drive after the formatting was completed. If there were already files on a DVD that I had been using to rewrite then it would open to that window, like a folder, when I put the disk in the drive, and I would copy and paste or drag and drop files to that window automatically when I put the disk in, and then I would click (I think) where it said burn files to disk up next to where it also (I think) said other stuff such as erase disk. That's all I can describe about what process I used to transfer data to the DVD disks. Sorry if that isn't what you were talking about.

"Do the drives show up in Computer? If so, if you wait maybe five minutes after inserting a disc, does it show up?"

Yes, the drive is shown in Computer. When CDs or DVDs it can detect, read or whatever are put in the drive the display in Computer changes from saying what kind of drive it is to the name of the disk that was put in. With DVD+RW disks nothing changes, and clicking on the drive in Computer makes it say Please insert disk into DVD drive.

I tried putting more than twenty DVD disks in the drive before posting here about it, but I only waited a few minutes each time for something to happen. After reading your post I tried eight Sony and Memorex DVD+RW disks and two Verbatim DVD-R disks. It read the DVD-R disks almost immediately. I waited for fifteen minutes each time after putting DVD+RW disks in. Nothing happened any of those times. It takes not very many seconds to display the contents of disks the drive can recognize, detect, read or whatever--the DVD-R and commercially produced music CDs and movies.

"Do you have the latest firmware (not the driver) for your drives?"

I didn't know what you meant by firmware. I read an explanation. In Device Manager properties for the two internal DVD and CD drives and the external DVD RW drive I don't see settings tabs or the word firmware anywhere as mentioned where I read about how to determine firmware version.

When I did an Internet search of "firmware GDR8162B" there were search results including results for message board topics, many of which were at the DELL forums, and almost all of which were from ten or fifteen years ago. People were looking for firmware updates for this same DVD drive. I guess DELL does not have any firmware updates for this drive and neither does Hitachi/LG. I kept seeing links to the website rpc1.org being shared to go to as recently as a year ago, but Malwarebytes and Firefox blocked me from going there and recommended not going there so I didn't go there after being warned not to.

If all I can do is use this LG external DVD RW drive, that's okay. I forgot I even had that. If anyone can help me make the internal DVD ROM drive work for DVD+RW disks, I would still appreciate that. Thank you again for helping me.

*edit* I just mean read the disks.

 

[wither 2]

First of all, the firmware for a drive is an operating system on the drive itself. A driver, such as the generic driver provided by Windows, allows the drive to converse with the operating system. I'll check on this tomorrow but just in case you don't hear from me, ping me.

You mentioned the drive was from 16 years ago. Just about 2004, Sony came out with the "+" type discs. All drives before that can only read "-" type drives. That may be the cause of some of your problems.

In other cases, a RW type disk is not finalized during the burning process and can't be read by most drives depending on how the disc was created. You didn't detail the process by which you created these discs.

 

[Efdy]

You mentioned the drive was from 16 years ago. Just about 2004, Sony came out with the "+" type discs. All drives before that can only read "-" type drives. That may be the cause of some of your problems.

Okay. Maybe that's it. Thank you for explaining that. I appreciate it.

You didn't detail the process by which you created these discs.

I'm sorry. I am not able to do that. That computer is dead, and it has been a long time since I saved anything to discs on it. If the computer still worked I could put in a blank disc and do what I usually did after putting a blank disc in to save files to it and describe exactly that. All I could do was describe what I remember about it as well as I tried to in my previous post. I apologize for not being able to do better.

Just when I put a blank disc in the computer a little window would pop up. I guess called a wizard because I think I remember it had a box to tick next to which is said something like Close wizard when it finishes. When it finishes writing to the disk, I guess. I don't remember. You would name the disk and there were two options, one for making a disc you can keep writing to and deleting from and one you write to a single time for making it a read only disc. After the wizard or whatever finished preparing the disc for saving files to a window like other folders on a computer would open where the contents of the disc are displayed, and I either copied and pasted files there or dragged and dropped files to there and clicked on burn to disc. Then it wrote the files to the disc and when it was done it asked if you want to burn the files to another disc or not. I don't remember there being any other options such as whatever the file system types are like FAT32 and NTFS, or whatever the actual names are. It just formatted the disc according to whatever it does by default. Sorry I can't detail the process, but thanks again for trying to help me and for telling me about the plus and minus sign thing.

 

[file3456]

Just briefing reading all of the tl;dr content, it sounds like your DVD ROM isn't compatible with RW media. To remedy that, get a DVD optical drive of this day and age which should read many or all DVD formats including DVD RAM.

Okay, I stand corrected according to this it will read RW. Is this the drive in question? If so, it might be a firmware issue.

 

[file3456]

Okay, download and run HWiNFO64 and post what firmware you have.
Free Download HWiNFO Sofware | Installer & Portable for Windows, DOS




Click image.

 

[wither 2]

I don't know if this is the latest but, if the age of the drive isn't the issue, I would do a "direct download" of the firmware from here (they call it a driver)-

Hl Dt St Dvd Rom Gdr8162b Driver Download

You would need to specify your operating system before doing the download. After download, install it and then reboot. I should mention that this process is irreversible. Worse thing that could happen is that the drive would be unusable but I really think you should buy a new RAM drive to avoid the age issue we talked about.

In XP, Autoplay probably ran some software other than the Windows utility for burning when you installed a blank disc. A disc which you can add and remove data from is a multisession disc and it wouldn't be finalized until you specified it. On the othere hand, RW discs aren't finalized unless you specify it.

 

[Efdy]

Thank you guys for the replies. Two people said to do something that wasn't the same thing, so for now I did what F22 Simpilot said to do and downloaded the stuff wither 2 linked to, but didn't run it yet. It says the firmware version of this DVD-ROM drive is 0015. Here is picture like the one F22 Simpilot uploaded.

 

[wither 2]

The firmware version in the link I provided isn't identified either at the website or in the zip file. It's probably the latest one since it's for Win 7 which wasn't around when the drive was manufactured.

Use the Extraction feature to extract the files in the .zip to a folder of your choice. Download the Driver Manager from the link and place it in the same folder and run it.

 

[Efdy]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply. Here is a screenshot of the contents of the unzipped direct download. Are one of those files the driver installation manager wither 2 referred to?

The Read Me file in the unzipped direct download folder says, "You have just downloaded a folder containing: 1) Driver installation manager 2) Various system files to be used by the driver installation manager, in order to correctly install the most updated driver available. 3) READ-ME file Please do not try to install the files yourself. You must use the driver installation manager to correctly update your driver."

At the webpage wither 2 linked to if you click on any of the links in the part of the stats table for the Driver Installation Manager listed next to the Direct Download the webpage scrolls down a little to the download options section just below that where the links are to proceed a little closer to the actual download mirrors for either the direct download or the driver installation manager.

The only thing I see to download separately from the direct download on that webpage that says it's a driver installation manager, which wither 2 said to put in that unzipped folder to run, starts off being called Driver Installation Manager on that webpage, and it is referred to as driver manager/finder on the page that opens when you are downloading the direct download, and what offered itself to be downloaded no matter which driver installation manager link I clicked on to get there is named DriverFinder, which is a regular program you install in Progam Files and all that, which is used to scan the computer, download drivers, and install them. You have to purchase a license to use it that costs more than a new internal DVD drive would. But I can't find any driver manager to just download from that webpage and drop into the unzipped direct download folder and run.

Am I overlooking something or misunderstanding something? Is one of those files in the unzipped direct download a driver installation manager like the Read Me file in the unzipped direct download folder says, or was this kind of like a bait and switch thing? I don't understand where the installation manager thing is that wither 2 said to also download and drop into the unzipped direct download to run.

Sorry about being difficult. It isn't intentional. I'm just not very bright. And sorry about not remembering things accurately at the beginning of this topic, for not being able to remember the process I was asked to describe, and for not being able to communicate in a more concise manner. I didn't know to just write "Hey, can anyone help me make this old DVD-ROM drive read DVD+RW disks?"

 

[wither 2]

After you've made the mirror selection, it says-

Once the zip is saved please download and install the driver manager/finder here.

Click on the "here" link in that sentence and it downloads.

I agree, the process is a little convoluted and the wording in the readme file is different.

 

[Efdy]

Hello,
Thanks again for the replies.

When I hover my mouse over that "here" link, it says https://link.safecart.com/2rtjap?51x885654s0as4

If I right click on that "here" link and select open in a new window, this page opens. https://driverfinderpro.com/rw/download.php?sid=ff4e5321f89043f2f7eaa9caa7969eeeb11016c8&aid=driverdata

And if I just left click on the "here" link it stays on that same page with the "here" link on it, and the little window for downloading a file pops up, and the file it wants to download is the DriverFinderPro installer. This is using the current version of Firefox.

That Read Me file in the direct download zipped folder makes it seem to my retarded brain like maybe that is left over from when they used to include the driver manager wither 2 said to place in the direct download unzipped folder, but since then they removed that thing including from the "here" link, and started trying to just get visitors to purchase the DriverFinder Pro program, I guess. Unless clicking on that "here" link is giving others the driver manager wither 2 is talking about placing in the unzipped direct download folder to run. In which case I wonder why it doesn't offer that file to me. I wish that "here" link would offer that file for me to download instead of DriverFinder Pro. LOL

wither 2, it is okay if you would rather not spend more time on this topic/thread/whatever. I appreciate what you did to help me. Thanks again to F22 Simpilot, too, for looking at this topic.

I have that LG external DVD RW drive I had forgotten I even own that is functioning well. Which I vaguely remember using with this computer a long time ago. If it ever stops functioning during the remainder of the life of this old Dimension 4600 desktop PC I can just try purchasing a new internal DVD drive.

 

[wither 2]

When I click on 'here" it directly downloads this file-

WeTransfer

 

[Efdy]

For me too, wither 2.

If I put it in the unzipped folder of the Direct Download and click on it, it will begin the process of installing DriverFinder on my computer, not installing the "drivers" from the Direct Download unzipped folder. The user interface of DriverFinder is pretty simple. As installed you can click on Overview (of the computer), Backup Drivers, Restore Drivers, and Settings. In that same menu is also a button to click on to see Scan Results, but the button is grayed out. And up above all that is where the the Scan button is (kind of like HWINFO scans and tells you what is on your rig, it seems from looking at the instructions documentation) which says Register instead of Scan. Reading the Help pages that provide instructions for using the program, it looks like you can scan your rig to tell you what drivers and I guess firmware is on your rig, download drivers, and install downloaded drivers. It doesn't look like you can do any of those things without registering the program, and the only registration options I see require purchasing a license.

If that's not correct, I misunderstood something. If it is correct I would rather purchase a new DVD drive than purchase that program, but I already have the LG external DVD-RW drive that I forgot I own so I don't need to purchase a new internal DVD-RW drive as long as the LG external DVD-RW drive continues to function. One thing seems to be sure, that you can't just place the file downloaded by clicking on the "here" link into the unzipped Direct Download folder and install the stuff in the unzipped Direct Download folder with it.

 

[file3456]

This is absolute crap! Don't install any damn driver finder software crap. These websites are F^%&U&! and make you install their malware. Now scan the living crap out of your computer.

You want a file called GDR8162B.zip which should come from tdb.rpc1.org, but that website no longer exists and the wayback machine didn't archive the download since they made their website like a potato and the wayback machine couldn't archive the zip file.

This may or may not be a firmware issue. Let me go over your post again and see what's up.

Uninstall that crap and scan your computer with AdwCleaner and check the computer with Sanity Check. Might want to run Malwarebytes for what ever that's worth.


AdwCleaner - Free Adware Cleaner & Removal Tool | Malwarebytes

Scroll down to security tools. Resplendence Software - Free Downloads

 

[file3456]

Okay, I can't ascertain what you're talking about in that long post. You're talking about CD drives and DVD-ROM drives. Which is it? Make your post straight and to the point. You can't read DVDs or CDs? Both computers run Windows 7?

What kind of data is written to the CDs or DVDs?

 

[torchwood]

and here's an old thread, regarding other REQUIRED missing drivers, your screenshot only shows the cd device drivers

https://www.google.com/url?client=i...FjABegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw3hz2a_yhN_8TpZ5FaN4fst


Roy

 

[Efdy]

The only programs I already had installed for security are Bitdefender free version and Malwarebytes Premium. Malwarebytes said DriverFinder was a PUP and to not even visit that page wither 2 linked to, but I did anyway and then installed DriverFinder after the discussion of it went further. After uninstalling it and deleting the downloaded installer, Malwarebytes, Bitdefender, ADWCleaner and SanityCheck scans said they found nothing harmful on my desktop computer. Should I use System Restore to put the computer back to the restore point created before installing DriverFinder? Is there something else I should also scan the computer with? I didn't really understand what some of that stuff is on the Resplendence Software free downloads page.

F22 Simpilot said "Okay, I can't ascertain what you're talking about in that long post. You're talking about CD drives and DVD-ROM drives. Which is it? Make your post straight and to the point. You can't read DVDs or CDs? Both computers run Windows 7?"

I apologize again for that. I was mixed up when I started this topic. It is only about making one old internal DVD-ROM drive read DVD+RW discs (and possibly DVD-RW discs, but I don't have any of those so I don't know). It reads DVD-R discs. I have now edited the first post of this topic to mention this for anyone else who may be considerate enough but unfortunate enough to read this topic.

The drive is HL-DT-ST DVD ROM GDR8162B. The computer is DELL Dimension 4600 with Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit installed on it. It was a clean install of Windows 7, or whatever you call it when you install Windows to a formatted HDD that had everything that was already there wiped off it, not an upgrade from a previous version of Windows. The drive this topic is about came with the desktop computer when it was first purchased. It had Windows XP on it then.

@torchwood, thank you, too, for helping me. I still have to read the topic you linked to. I can't right this minute because I have to try to look up some legal stuff online and reply to a letter from my landlord that I just got from the mailbox.

Here is a copy of the screenshot I added to the first post in this topic, which includes Device Manger Driver tab.

 

[wither 2]

I checked that file with Norton Security and there were no issues. I didn't bother installing it. I think the way to install the firmware pack is to run it after the driver finder is installed but, obviously didn't try it.

As I mentioned before, I think your best bet is to ditch that drive with a RAM drive, especially since (if I remember correctly) you're going to go to Win 10. I think you also said you have a replacement LG drive.