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Do I Need A Newer CD Drive

17 years ago

I have a Dell Dimension 4600, XP, SP3, 1.2GB RAM, AVG. I bought it August 22, 2003. I've had more trouble with my system in the past four months than I have had since 2003.

It seemed to have coincided with the time I downloaded IE8. I had been runing the IE8 beta for more than a year. After hours on the phone I finally deleted IE8 and went back to IE7.

The latest problem is when I bought a program called Isaac Asimov's Planetarium. It claims to work with XP, Vista, etc. I've checked a dozen of my other CD programs and they will load and run. This one will not. It goes blank. None of the normal processes for getting it to run don't work. The disk is simply not recognized.

Office Depot put it on one of their new computers. It works.

Another irritating problems is that windows only come up half screen and I have to click enlarge. I use to never have to do this. I've followed some your leads like exiting from the file menu with no help.

Do you suppose the stealthy computer demons are trying to tell me to get another computer . Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks, Gene

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Comments (6)

bpgreen
17 years ago
If you've got a CD drive, that's your problem. That program is on a DVD.

On the bright side, DVD burners are pretty inexpensive. And read only drives are marginally less.

Newegg DVD burners (note that the first one in the list is a CD burner only and you need DVD).
candler
Original Author
17 years ago
Your answer is right on target, bpgreen. I sure do thank you. MS, Dell, or someone should hire you to remind them to ask "is the computer plugged in - is the computer turned on - etc. We old guys (I'm 75) need that.

I didn't know some computer programs were in a DVD format. I'd glanced at the box but only to see if it was XP. Even if I had read further to see the "DVD" I would have assumed my computer had a DVD capabilities. Apparently it was not part of the Dell Dimension $800 computer package in 2003.

Thanks again. Gene
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Because it has no burner and there was no report of which O/S there is a possibility that it could be an old system with USB 1.0. There might be a problem with a flash drive. Unlikely, but possible. I did have one work one time an an old laptop with Win2000 and USB 1.0. Then I have had a couple old systems that wouldn't. DA
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DA_Mccoy
17 years ago
Though I don't recommend one as it is not cost effective (usually more money) and not as efficient as an installed drive (usually slower), if it suits you you could consider an external DVD drive. No case to open, a USB connection and most likely an audio plugin connection. All that is left to install a driver from disk and you would be done.

Just a thought.

DA
candler
Original Author
17 years ago
Question: Is a DVD-RW the same as a burner? I saw an internal HP in this morning's paper for $40. It doesn't say it's a burner.

I've been reading a little about DVD-RW. It seems with a DVD-RW one can read and write to standard RW CD-ROM disks and can read and write to DVD disks. Is that right?

It had not occured to me about an external drive. I'm glad to know I have a choice. Thanks, Gene
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
17 years ago
yes when it says RW it will write to it also but yes it will play them too. So the write part is the same as burn.

I did get an external drive that does cd read and write and dvd read and write it has come in quite handy since I can use it on all of my computers and my new netbook which does not come with any type of cd/dvd drive, I got mine on a clearance rack at staples for very cheap. It was an older model but that did not really matter much to me for my needs and works great. Having the usb plug in makes it very simple to use.
I just googled and found some external ones for under $40 with free shipping so not too bad.
candler
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the help, folks. Although I still have my older computer I rarely use it. I opted for an internal DVD-CD drive.

PATA and SATA. I removed the cover and my old CD drive. It was then I saw the wiring harness of my computer (2003) was not compatible with the new drive. I called Best Buy. Newer drives are SATA (don't know what that stand for) and have a different wiring configuration. I've ordered a PATA.

I appreciate everyone's help. Gene

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