DRIVER NEEDED: unknown HL DT ST DVD-RW GWA-4082N (Windows XP Home) [IDE]

[loveboat]

I've been having horrible trouble trying to track down any information on this drive. It's a DVD-RW drive that has no listed manufacturer yet I see other versions all over, and what's more, they all seem to be having the same or similar problems. At first it seemed like no biggie - every once in a while it wouldn't recognise a DVD disc or it couldn't play it, and a restart later everything would be back to normal. Now, when you place a DVD in the drive, 98% of the time it's as if the drive doesn't even exist all of a sudden! I have found NO support for this and driverguide's toolkit lists the drivers as MS, so as you can guess, no luck there.

Please, if there is any information on updated drivers or even a manufacturer, it would be very appreciated! I've tried emachines support (they blamed Media Player, lol) and I've done a ton of dead-ended searches on this thing and found nothing...please help!?

Thank you in advance.
-loveboat

Support Information:
Device Type: CD / DVD
Manufacturer: unknown
Model: HL DT ST DVD-RW GWA-4082N
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: PowerDVD)

Find it on DriverGuide | Find it with Google

[Jerry K]

This drive is built by LG. -- http://us.lge.com/products/model/det... A-4082N.jhtml

The problem you describe is common with laptop optical drives. They are cheaply built and cause many problems such as you describe. And it's common for some optical drives to just not read every disk you insert into the drive.

Optical drives never require a driver when used in Windows 95 or higher. The XP os provide native support that allows this drive to read a data or music disk and to burn a cd-r disk. Anything else requires 3rd. party software such as Easy CD & DVD Creator or Nero and dvd decoding software such as PowerDVD or WinDVD.

The only thing I can suggest is to visit your laptop makers website and see if they have a firmware update posted that's newer than your current firmware.

I doubt that LG firmware will work since this is an OEM drive made specially for your laptop so all support must come from the laptop maker. If firmware fails to correct the problem then I suggest replacing the drive.

[Midwestville]

Hi. This is a Hitachi DVD drive, and they seem to have been bought by LG, at least the DVD division.

I'm having the same trouble finding a driver for my model

HL-DT-ST GWA-4040B

It came on a Sony Viao, and all the software was preinstalled.

You should check out the LG site, because when I went to the Hitachi site looking for a driver, it took me directly to the LG site.

Somewhere on the LG site, they recommend using a generic type of driver, but it didn't work for me.

If I see your model around, while I'm looking for mine, I'll let you know.

Hey, if you see mine could you let me know?

Thanks, Jane

[jajomart]

Well, if the reason the generic driver doesn't work is because it gives you an error message when you try to install it, you can try this:

To resolve this problem, remove the affected filter drivers. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, go to run and type in "regedit" then press enter.
2. Locate, and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\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.

At this point you may be able to install the generic driver without a "driver corrupt" error. If this isn't your problem, hopefully it'll help someone. <_<

[Jerry K]

Old news... this fix has been posted in dozens of threads in this forum.

Here's one posted a few months ago: http://forums.driverguide.com/showth...t=21669&page=4