Resolved Dell laptop dvd/cd drive not working

My daughter has a Dell laptop we bought for her on 11-10-11. We bought it through her university so it would be easier to get service for it through the university's IT services, but unfortunately, she isn't at school this semester so can't take it in as the school is over two hours away.

The problem is with her dvd/cd drive. She wanted to burn a music cd tonight and it wouldn't work. I tried putting a different cd in to make sure the problem isn't with the cd, but it still didn't work. I went to Computer and right clicked on the drive and Properties. It shows used space and free space as both being zero bytes. It is as if it doesn't see the blank cd at all.

I tried playing a pre-recorded dvd and cd and they played just fine.

I went to Device Manager and it said the device was working properly and the drivers were up to date.

She was trying to burn using itunes, so I tried some other program on her computer called CDBurnerXP and that wouldn't work either. It just said No compatible drives and No disc and no burning device was detected.

I'm looking for suggestions on what we might do next. She won't be going back to school until August so their IT department is out of the question.

I am even wondering if we somehow bought a computer without burning capibility? I can't imagine that in this day and age anybody would sell a computer that couldn't burn.

As usual, any advice will be appreciated.

 

Hi Bucksone, did Device Manager recognize the type/brand of the ROM drive?
Have you tried un-installing the Drive in Device Manager > Shut down > ReBoot and let Windows locate and install again? Neil.

 

Are you sure it is has a CD and a DVD burner in it? Some now just come with a DVD and not a CD. What is the model of the Dell that she has.

I would also do as retiredlearner suggested. Uninstall it and then reboot and let windows find it.

 

Has anyone ever used it to burn a CD/DVD?

(Note that some companies do not want burners).

 

I tried uninstalling, rebooting, and letting it reinstall. It still won't burn.

She's never used it yet to burn anything.

Dumb question. How do I determine what model Dell this is?

Thanks.

 

The laptop is a Dell Latitude E5520.

 

Dell.com > Dell Latitude E5520 Details

There are two optical drive options with that model:

1. DVD-ROM
   
   
2. DVD+/-RW

Option (1) is a "ROM" [Read-Only Memory], no "W "rite (burn) capability.

 

Much to my dismay, it appears we bought a laptop without a burner. In this day and age, I just assumed all dvd/cd drives were burners. I guess I was wrong.

Thanks for the assist.

 

You can pick one up on E-Bay for about 50 bucks and no shipping. Just unplug the old one and plug in the new one. Probably just a couple of screws to take out to unplug it.