The phillips dvd8801 shows in My Computer and in Device Manager which says it is working properly but no contents show when it accessed with either a CD or DVD with contents inserted. Properties shows 0 space used and 0 space available. This is on a Dell with XP. I have read here that XP requires NO drivers for any optical drives.

If I uninstall the device in Device Manager and restart, Windows automatically re-installs the device without searching for drivers.

I suspect the drive is faulty but want to rule out an OS configuration problem first.

Thanks

Support Information:
Device Type: CD / DVD
Manufacturer: Phillips
Model: DVD8801
Interface: IDE
Operating System: Windows XP Home
Age of Device: < 2 years old
FCCID:

Type of drive: dvd-r/cd-rw (dvd burner, dvd reader, &amp; cd burner combo)
Location: internal
What recording software are you using?: Other (Other: Sonic MyDVDLe)

Find it on DriverGuide (http://members.driverguide.com/index.php?action=srch&sm=b&aax=&qa6=813&qa5=3&qa7=1500&dp=2&qm0=DVD8801&jmd=and&fzz=d) | Find it with Google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Phillips+CD+%2F+DVD++DVD8801+Windows+XP+Home+) | Research manufacturer Phillips (http://members.driverguide.com/index.php?action=getinfo&companyid=813)

Windows doesn't give any notification of new hardware found when dealing with an internal IDE or SATA optical drive. It simply does it without user notification. In fact the only way you know that Windows has installed the drive is to see it listed in My Computer and Device Manager. If it's listed in those 2 places and isn't flagged as having a problem by Device Manager (and fails to work), then it's most likely a defective drive.