Problems & Support for this product

• GWA4164B Can't read blank CD's and reads blank DVDs as blank CDs.
Question by TehSkull, Saturday 30th of August 2008 05:55
My drive can read CDs/DVDs with data on them, but blank DVDs show up as blank CDs(which isn't a problem if using Nero/ImgBurn) and CDs don't show up at all. Windows sees them as full but blank. Blank CDs don't show up even on Nero/ImgBurn. It doesn't even look like the drive is trying to read the CD.

I tried googling this and I found some pages with similar problems but no real resolution or explanation why I should buy a new drive.
Answer by pfloyd1, Saturday 30th of August 2008 21:22
How old is the drive? Very old, time to upgrade.
Answer by TehSkull, Sunday 31st of August 2008 02:27
I got the drive back in 2006. It came with my Dell Dimension E310. Is 2 years "very old"?
Answer by Albert, Sunday 31st of August 2008 02:34
Well, Windows will show blank DVDs as blank CDs. This is normal for Windows XP; the integrated burning function isn't meant to recognize blank DVDs.

The issue recognizing blank CDs does sound like it's time for a new drive. There have been many [MANY] new drives from LG since the days of the GSA-4166B [and the drives related to it, including this drive]. They've even since changed the naming scheme twice.

Probably the best test you could do is pull the drive out and try it in another system. Alternatively, get a new burner and see if it does the same thing.
Answer by TehSkull, Sunday 31st of August 2008 03:03
Albert said:
Well, Windows will show blank DVDs as blank CDs. This is normal for Windows XP; the integrated burning function isn't meant to recognize blank DVDs.

The issue recognizing blank CDs does sound like it's time for a new drive. There have been many [MANY] new drives from LG since the days of the GSA-4166B [and the drives related to it, including this drive]. They've even since changed the naming scheme twice.

Probably the best test you could do is pull the drive out and try it in another system. Alternatively, get a new burner and see if it does the same thing.


Neither of those tests are an option at the moment. We have 2 other computers but they're both laptops, and getting a new drive is out of the question since we're a bit tight on cash. I'll just live with burning CDs on one computer and DVDs on another.

Oh another thing that might be relevant. When burning DVD's the device buffer doesn't fill all the way, and can only burn at 4x which is much slower than it used to. It had issues with slow burning and burning in general before because it changed itself to PIO(or XP did it).

I don't really need to burn faster than 4x so its no big deal. Thanks anyway.
Answer by Albert, Sunday 31st of August 2008 03:13
The drive's in PIO? See if this helps.
Answer by TehSkull, Sunday 31st of August 2008 05:17
Albert said:
The drive's in PIO? See if this helps.


I guess I didn't make it very clear that I changed it back from PIO. Sorry.

At this point all I really need is an explanation to why it stopped reading CDs. Not a fix for it or anything. Has the laser worn out, is it just old, etc.
Answer by pfloyd1, Sunday 31st of August 2008 05:52
Well, it is old. How often did you use it?
Windows will revert to PIO mode when the drive encounters too many errors.
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