m | a | n | a

It's a COMPAQ DVD-ROM GD-8000 and my friend put it in my computer while he was here a few weeks ago.

It recognizes regular CD-Roms but not DVDs.

Maybe I'm going about this wrong? It always says Drive (F:) is empty whenever I put a DVD in. Do I need a specific program to read it or something?

smz

in windows XP that drive is going to use a stock driver. I'm a little weary to say that the drive is dirty or has an issue. I do have a drive here that is not installed that exibits that exact behavior it's a combo read drive only. cd's are no problem.

also, some dvd-roms will only take certain kinds of media and certain formats.
remember we have dvd+r and +rw dvd-r and -rw along with DVD+R DL and DVD-Ram. I will check the specs later on that drives reading compatibiity list. for example i recently bought a home dvd player/recorder from rca. in the manual it specifically said no dvd-r support but +r was ok.

m | a | n | a

Well I tried a bunch of different kind of DVDs and nothing will recognize. I really want it to recognize my DVDs and I'm desperate to try anything ._.

smz

Well, I hate to break it to you but I think you need to invest $25 or $30 and get a new drive. There is no reason why that shouldn't be a universal IDE connector on the rear. Just make sure if you are setting it up, use it as a master if you have a spare IDE connector. If you don't, you need to jump it as a slave and the hard drive may or may not need to be reconfigured as "master" generally this is not the case with newer drives.

I have a Toshiba DVD-ROM that is exhibiting symptons identical to yours. I stopped trying, there was no use. I don't have any real DVD cleaning kits but as a last option I'm sure that could be tried. The fact no one else has came in here with there input lately leads me to believe everyone has already agreed to my original reply to you. I do wish you luck but there is no drive I know of that can turn on or off an optical drives ability to read dvd media and work with cd's fine. I'm not sure if you mentioned it but have you tried a couple different RETAIL DVD's? just for media compatibility issue verification.

Take Care.
Scott