Member Avatar for Slave_of_Allah

Hello there all!!!

I guessed this would be the best place for me to ask question. A cousin of mine has a sony VGN-C140G, he told me that just after he formatted it...his CD ROM drive stopped reading CDs. It is getting kinda troublesome finding the solution. I tried unstalling the driver and installing it back again...there was no change.

I really..really need help.

Thank A lot!!!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by FragFighter

Dani AI

Generated

A concise diagnostic checklist for the Sony VGN-C140G situation that separates hardware failure from an OS/software problem. @Slave_ofAllah already reported the drive stopped working after a format; suggested driver/cleaning checks. The steps below add targeted tests and safe next actions that haven’t yet been posted.

  • Confirm whether the drive is visible to firmware: reboot and enter the laptop Setup/BIOS and note whether an optical device is listed. If the drive is not visible to firmware, treat it as a likely hardware fault (connection or module failure).

  • Verify outside the installed OS: attempt to boot from a known-good bootable CD/DVD (Linux live disc or Windows installer). If the machine boots from that disc, the drive hardware is functional and the problem is in the OS layer.

  • Collect Windows device details (if Windows is running): open Device Manager, inspect the optical drive entry, and capture the exact status/error text from Properties → General/Details. For a quick device listing from an elevated command prompt, run:

    wmic cdrom get name,drive

    Record any error codes or missing entries.

  • Remove software-layer suspects before low-level edits: temporarily uninstall any virtual-drive/burning utilities (DaemonTools, Alcohol, Roxio, etc.), then reboot and re-check Device Manager. If those tools are absent or removal makes no difference, proceed to the next step.

  • Isolate with external hardware: try a USB external optical drive. If it works, the internal slimline module or its connector is the likely failure and replacement is a reasonable fix; if the external also fails to read discs on this machine, the fault is in the OS or power/supply.

Safe next actions: if firmware/boot does not see the drive, professional inspection or replacing the slim optical module is recommended. If firmware sees it but the OS does not, keep the device details/error text handy when searching for a targeted fix or posting back (exact errors narrow the cause quickly).

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for FragFighter

first try getting a new driver - the old copy may have been corrupted.
Secondly, you could try cleaning the CD drive (very carefully and look at tutorials if you've never done it before)

Member Avatar for FragFighter

and here's something I found online that might be useful to read:

If your CD/DVD drive disappeared from My Computer but you still can see it in the device manager, you can use this method posted on Microsoft site:
(posted at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060 )
To resolve this problem, remove the affected filter drivers. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Click StartStart button, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit in the Programs list.

User Account Control permission If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
2. Locate, and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-
08002BE10318}
Caution There can be many instances of the registry subkey that is mentioned in step 2. You must make sure that you are in the appropriate registry subkey before modifying the UpperFilters and the LowerFilters values. To verify that you are in the appropriate registry subkey, make sure that the Default data value is DVD/CD-ROM and the Class data value is CDROM.
3. In the right pane, right-click UpperFilters, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the UpperFilters registry entry.
5. In the right pane, right-click LowerFilters, and then click Delete.
6. Click Yes to confirm the removal of the LowerFilters registry entry.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

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