Hi, 

everytime I mess about with firmware etc for a little while after my start up is slow too, something maybe not to be too worried about, I've personally never flashed my BIOS as I felt this was a firmware issue with the drive itself and not the computer at fault so I cant really comment on that

Ok this is what I would personally do..

(1) Restore the PC to "factory spec"

(2) Allow the pc's applications to bed in, such as the Vaio Launcher, Norton AV etc so that no other applications are wanting to complete their install/recovery

(3) Another thing I did was to download a RPC2 removal program LtnRPC which is available for download at most locations, now tread carefully as I would never suggest you loose your warrenty as that is what you will do if you use 3rd party software to mess with your exsisting drive firmware. I have used this completely as a work around in order to get MY laptop working as it should.... and then i re enabled the region settings again shortly afterwards

(4) The install the PFS-1 - not forgetting to disable all other programs as you would if you were using the Sony update.

(5) Try PFS-1, It personally did not work for me but try it all the same... attempt a burn or something.

(6) Try PFS-2, this is where my drive roared back into operational condition... a great day indeed.

Get back to me if you need

Motion

Hi,

Ok this is what I would do personally IF what Blencogo has suggested and it has not worked

Also before I mention what I would do

again this will void a warrenty and you do so at your own risk



(1)Download and unpack  from the .rar file the three stock.exe's for the drive. The reason for unpacking them now is that when your pc is returned to factory configuration you cannot unpack the rar.

http://codeguys.rpc1.org/firmwares/dvdrw_slimtype/stock/Sony.D56A.PFS1-PFS2-PFS3.stock.rar

Also find and download a RPC2 removal program LtnRPC. Unpack if  neccesary.

And then store the files on a usb memory or external HDD or disc. If you are burning to disc you might want to fill it up with any pictures or other media you want to keep.


(2) Perform a full C:\ Drive System Recovery using your Recovery Discs. Make sure you back up all your Data as the contents of C:\ will be lost.

(3) Allow all the pre installed software that comes with the laptop to iinstall itself correctly, Vaio Launcher, Norton IS etc so that nothing else wants to install itself.

(4) Restart the PC.

(5) Place the saved files from section (1)  on to your desktop. At this point you might want to try the RPC removal tool LtnRPC.  Sometimes it says that it has not done anything but upon checking the properties of the optical drive its deffo removed the RPC-2. Try and burn at this point.. sometimes I had luck with this alone. If still not working properly proceed :

(6) Re-enable the region settings for the drive using the Ltn-RPC. Now once upon a time there was an "issue" with Sony placing a type of encryption on their discs XCP i think it was called.

Ages ago I came across this issue with my laptop, XCP had reduced my drive to a similar state so I decided  try this as well after I tried the LtnRPC program,  I was desparate at this moment.. i really wanted to fix my laptop:

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

Completely uninstall the XCP software and associated content protection files.


(7) Disable all the things you are meant to do as if you were following the instructions for a Sony Updates firmware installation.  Disable the Anti-V, screensaver, hibernation etc.

(8) Flash the PFS-1 on to the drive and restart.

(9)  Attempt a burn or something, this failed for me.

(10) Flash the PFS-2 on to the drive and attempt a burn. 

Thats all I can suggest. If not then It looks like you may have to consider a replacement drive.  may the force be with you.

Motion

The CD-DVD driver in my VAIO PCG K315Z  does not recognize a CD any more, so I cannot play a CD, and I cannot burn a CD. It is, maybe, the problem that Microsoft Windows XP has with some software in Service Pack 2, e.g. some Adobe applications. www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/328585.html gives a solution. I found in Http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=883523 a website in Dutch describing the problem of the not recognized rewritable-station in Windows XP Service Pack 2. There must be one in English too. Microsoft offers a supporting hotfix, which is not tested yet 100%.
Did anyone of you contact Microsoft Product Support Services to get the hotfix?

No sucess. Maybe I do a detail wrong.

My next question:

Is it possible I to replace a drive?
To buy one in the store and to replace by myself. Is it difficult?
I am not an expert.

Well I just spent 3 days trying to sort the problem with my VGN-S3HP DVD combo drive ( matshita UJ-822Da ) it refused to see any dvd -R disks and fell over when burning DVD +R disks , after much searching I decided to bite the bullit and 20 min later after talking to a drone on the sony help desk telling me what I needed to do i asked how much to send my laptop back for repair ....... Guess whos out of warranty so £249 was the quote .... This I declined so being a computer techie and armed with my trusty Phillips screwdriver I decided to ppull the offending laptop appart and see if I could get to the route of the cause which I did. Generally after almost 2 years of being used here their and everywhere dumped on desks and thrown into the back of the car droped on the floor the plug in the back of the drive had worked slightly loose so even though the drive read some disks it was not happy with alot of them , after generally cleaning out the inside of the laptop and reattaching everything securly I powered up and burnt a DVD -r recovery set followed by a DVD +R set and just to make sure a set of CD recovery disks. So 1 hour lost lunch break or £249 to Sony to do pretty much nothing and im going to guess at a HD wipe for fun for them because it seems a standard thing to do when returning these things other than that im fully up and running and happy again.

Words of caution though if your not a trained techie DO NOT open your computer and take it appart. Unless you're just plane crazy then if you do bust it you only have your self to blame...

Damfoose.  Just read your post after returning from store with a replacement Sony DVD writer for my VGN T1XP Matshita UJ-822Da which can burn, but not read, a data CD or DVD.  Fed up trying to get Sony to sort it out.  Was all set to ask a pal to install the new one but was a bit worried by your words of caution .  Is it very difficult to do?

So I lost my drivers for my dvd/cd-rom stations. I dont know how but I lost them. Does anyone know how to reinstall them. I have a Vaio FE21B notebook and my dvd drive is a

SONY DVD RW DW-G520A

Here's a picture of the message I get:

http://members.lycos.nl/robertito54321/drivers.jpg

So if anyone has a solution, please help.

Thanks in advance