i have a problem with my Ricoh DVD RW, all of a sudden, it wont play dvd or cd roms. when i go to my computer and go to explore the drive, it either says insert disk or invalid action. ive downloaded the driver update for it, but nothing has changed... please help!!!

I would try another drive with a normal dvd movie... when that works I would look at drivers... but 2 read a normal dvd movie most drivers of dvd drives of any kind will allow it to read, just not write. Look for flash updates if u think it could b that... if all else fales call tech support and maybe get it sent in...

If a drive is working fine and then all of a sudden quits, it's usually a dead drive. Drivers don't normally stop working all of a sudden. One way to make sure it's not a windows problem is to boot from a win98 floppy (if you have one), insert a CD and see if you can access it from dos.

Check the bios. If it is not listed in the bios: 1. try a new ide cable 2. try a new molex (power) cable. 3. try the other ide channel (remember to change jumper settings if needed). If you do the above and it is still not showing in the bios, it is dead. If it does show in the bios but not windows, post back. There may be some other thngs to try. Also, you will not be able to do a firmware upgrade if the pc does not detect the drive. I have some older hardware that does require a firmware upgrade to work with XP. Though, if this were your problem, the drive would never have worked.

He has mentioned "all of sudden", could it be the death of the drive 8). Well, after trying above suggestions and if they don't work and you become hopeless, slap it really hard, it may work too. GL

If it is the primary CD try booting with a bootable CD, if it is not then change it so the drive is primary on the IDE channel and try a CD boot. This is a hardware/DOS level without the problems that might be from a Windows driver. Most of the drives I replace are for the same problem, used to work and now suddenly does not. With these symptoms sounds like a dead drive, motor spins, door opens and closes but no disk read (typically a dead or misaligned LASER). These are not servicable by you. Richard