I have a weird problem with the cd drive on my hp pavilion ze5400, first off I can't find anywhere on the website or manual which cd rom exactly it is. The thing is it won't read almost any burned CDs. It plays all original CD/DVDs fine. It did read one cd though that was burned with fireburner, I tried numerous Nero and alcohol written cds and nothing. Anyone can see how this could be troublesome. Any suggestions or help is appreciated.

Hi Tom Do a google search for AIDA32 It will tell you all you need to know about your system, not just what type/make your cdrom is. Wolfey On a hot summers night would you offer your throat to the Wolf with the Red Roses?

You may also want to go to www.hp.com and use their email tech support. It is free and they are pretty thorough, and they get back to you in a timely fashion. I have used them twice in the past. Both were positive experiences. And when you give them your SN# form your PC they know what you have. If it was in there when you purchased it, that is. If it doesn't work the 1st time try again and again.... the 3rd time find the tallest building around stand near a large window with a view.... Take a deep breath.. and drop the PC to it's death. LOL

Unfortunately the other choice is a problem with the alignment of the heads between the different drives. Your laptop can see commercial disks, but not your burned ones. Lets start there. 1. Are the burned disks all from the same drive? 2. Have you tried burned disks from a different burner? 3. Do the burned disks work in any other PC? 4. Are there any commercial CD's that the laptop does not read? What we are trying to do is figure out whether your burner is good or bad. The problem could actually be the drive you are using to burn the CD's. What is sounds like is a slight difference in the alignment of the heads between the drives. Since they are not repairable you need to find out which one it is and replace that one. If a burned disk works in different units and not on your laptop then I would suspect that drive. Since you get the same reaction from different burner software it seems to be a hardware problem. Good luck Richard

I will e-mail the hp customer service, hopefully they'll be able to help me. as to the last post 1. Are the burned disks all from the same drive? no, they are from at least three different drives 2. Have you tried burned disks from a different burner? yes also didn't work, but it does read two cds burned with the same drives that the other cds came from except that these ones were made using fireburner 3. Do the burned disks work in any other PC? not had a problem yet 4. Are there any commercial CD's that the laptop does not read? no, and I tried tons of them from regular cds, vcds, svcds, DVDs from a variety of regions