[SOLVED] windows doesnt reconize cd rom drive

when i purchased my laptop back in 2009, acer had windvd on it. watched 4 movies then it quit. when i trouble shoot message comes up saying windows doesnt reconize drive. i could watch movie thru a external cd rom drive. i installed win7 and cd/dvd rom still doesnt work. i can play cd's but cant watch movies unless i use my external cd rom. using external drive uses up usb ports, i like to have them open for wireless mouse and cool pad fans.

Go to Acer's website and download all the latest drivers for your laptop.

http://support.acer.com/us/en/produc...1&modelId=1010

It sounds like maybe you have a defective DVD-drive, they do go bad and it sounds like yours died early on. Is it only movies that will not play? Does anything else work in that drive? Does it show up in device manager?

no drivers for playing dvd's. i can play cd's and run software. just cant watch movies. show to be in device manager and says its working fine.

Are you sure it's a DVD-Rom? Maybe it is only for CDs. And have you checked with the manufacturer to see if there is an update?

You said it worked for 4 movies when you first got it, then stopped; perhaps something broke. You should have sent it in for warranty service, how long has it been? Any chance it's still under warranty?

If you're using Windows 7, the Media Center has DVD player software native to it. Have you tried that? Also Windows Media Player will play DVDs too.

Sound like WinDVD when it went kaput on you screwed up something else too.

Try downloading this: BlazeDVD Free - DVD Player download the free version, I've used it in the past and it does a very good job of playing DVDs

sent it in for repair and acer said nothing was wrong.
its a Optiarc DVD RW AD-7580S SCSI CdRom device.
when i first bought it had this thing repaired 5 times. mother board, wifi board, cpu, sound card, i forget what else they replaced. when warranty ended they wanted 300 bucks to extend it. acer has no updates for it. they havent updated any drivers since 2009.

I wasn't thinking drivers, I was thinking the DVD-rom firmware. Sometimes it gets updated to recognize newer media.

Have you tried Microsoft Fix-it?

From searching it seems this drive has issues and you are not the only one to mention that particular problem but I didn't see any answer yet.

yes i tried the microsoft fix-it says its fix but windows still doesnt reconize drive.
this laptop was loaded with lots of pre-install software, such as, obrion windvd skype google plus thier software. if you reboot from acer discs you have 3 discs to boot from. 1st disc is operating system windows vista, 2nd and 3rd discs were thier software and junk. i had problem with the google making changes plus windows seen 3 of acer software as malware and tried removing them, through computer in a loop. every 3 months reboot. spend 6 hours to download updates. i got tired of that, went to compusa bought a system builders disc of win7 full version for 99 dollars. and i still get message windows doesnt reconize dvd drive. i watch movies through windows media center but i have to hook up my external drive. have to unplug mouse and cool pad.