movie DVD DW D56A PROBLEMS

[irishpureblood]

hi got .FS -VGN- FS115M ...DVD DW D56A .I have my laptop for 4 months and it worked fine at the start......over the last couple months it been having problems like playing some dvd movies but now it wont play any dvd moives .it just doesnt see my dvd in the drive it start up but nothing happens ..i watch them before on it and even new one wont play install new dvd software..play a couple of time ,LAST MONTH now wont play at all....it reads dvd data and cd and burns ok but wont play any moives now .......uninstall all my programs i photoshop ect........still didnt work did a complete system restore ....update all the drivers ...stilll dam wont work...would clean the head make any diffrents..cant see that wotking as it see dvd data disc/////// i heard there alot of problems with the dw d56a...so if i sen it back will they put the same model back in........or should i just buy a laptop dvd player and put it in my self

just give up smoking thinking about starting again ...thanks sony.....should i just send it back

[rich912]

Assuming that you have tried the firmware update for the drive and this had no effect then yes, contact support for a repair.

I understand, from a previous post, that Sony is fitting the DW-D56A Rev2 drive as a replacement. I hope that it is more reliable than its predecessor!

[irishpureblood]

thanks as i just looked at other drive out there .and the cost between 200 300.....i email tech hope to hear from them soon

[jimmex]

As an old moaner about a disfunctional DW-D56A in my 4 month old Vaio VGN-A417M (along with many, many other users complaining of the same!) I solved my problem by chucking the Sony/Lite-on crap unit out and replacing it with the new NEC-6650A which performs great and has given me no problems at all and no need for firmware tweaks.

Now if someone could just tell Sony to make dismantling of their damn notebooks a bit easier it would help anyone wanting to take this route!! Apart from a load of different length screws at the back of the case they cunningly hid two under the keyboard which took by laptop repair shop a while to find before they could split the case and install the drive, Guess Sony doesn't want your average complaining user to fix their problems - LOL!!

have fun

[wheresmybeaver]

Man I wouldnt fancy taking apart my A217M for anything....

Well for anybody out there having problems with the DW-D56A in their Vaio, I had the same problem a month or two ago and Sony Support replaced the drive with a "v2" D56A (which leads me to believe its a fixed version of the drive). Since then, absolutely no problems with the drive; records and reads DVD fine. None of those dodgy "stalling" noises that I used to get near the end of a DVD.

So, if you do have problems with your current DVD drive, then a replacement from Sony Support should be a good solution. Still, would be interested in doing an upgrade myself in a year or so to a better performance drive (if a walkthrough or something was available, of course. Wouldn't try it on my own).

Slan lads

Dave

[jimmex]

Man I wouldnt fancy taking apart my A217M for anything....
Dave

Yeah Dave - I have to agree I was pretty desperate to bite the bullet and take this route but i bought my notebook 6 months ago in the UK just 2 days before leaving to take up a long term project engineer posting in Bangladesh. The drive went defunct on me 2 weeks after arriving here just when I really needed it to be working for work reasons!

Trying to find a Sony support here in Dhaka was like finding rocking horse crap in the streets but luckily I had a 2 day trip to the UK planned last month but as I couldnt get a committment from Sony support to undertake an emergency repair in 24 hours I bought the NEC drive thru the internet to be delivered to my hotel there for when I arrived. I got a local laptop repair shop to install the drive after being unable to locate the hidden keyboard screws myself (cowards aproach I know !) - took me all of 1 hour to get the unit back, up and running.

Definitely a special case of 'needs must' but I doubt even Sony support could beat that speed - LOL!

The lessons we learn eh - jus feel really let down by Sony on this one - ah well .......

Jim

[kee-lo_]

Nice to see you got it sorted, but Sony really need to get better support for people internationally

[Laughing]

a

[irishpureblood]

well now over a week and sony still havnt even replyed to my case number ........does any one know what the tech support phone number is for the uk thanks

[kee-lo_]

0870 240 2408