Problem with DVD & CD Drives

Hi,

My DVD drive is not working, it is unable to read the information on CD or DVD.
What is the problem and how can i troubleshoot it?

Sometimes most of the user get this problem with their DVD or CD drives. Well, it can be the cause of some dust on your Disc, your driver not got installed properly or might be your CD laser is gone.As you said your drive is unable to read the information on CD or DVD,you can try this to get out of your problem :-

1. Remove the disc from the drive.

2. Clean the disc with a disc cleaning kit or by gently wiping the silver side of the disc from the center outward with a dry, soft, lint-free, cotton cloth.Try not to make scratches on the disc.Do not use a paper cloth, and do not use a circular motion to clean it.

3. Reinsert the disc in the CD or DVD drive. If the computer still cannot read the disc

4. Try again to clean the disc by using a cloth dampened with water, or dampened with a commercial CD or DVD cleaning solution.

5. Dry the disc thoroughly, and then reinsert it in the CD or DVD drive.Hope it can read the Disc.,if still not reading their might be other problem. Try to Clean the upper/lower filters.Still not working than your CD laser is gone.

Try to clean clean both your disc and the drive with a soft lint-free cloth, tissue, or paper towel moistened with water and soap or a mild detergent. Wipe in a straight line from center to edge.Try to clean the disk drive with a disk cleaning CD or DVD.Check all the cables, monitor, keyboard and mouse functionality.Isert the disc and see is it playing now or not. If not than check the disc for damage:-

1. Remove the disc from the drive, and then examine the disc for scratches or cracks.

2. If the disc is damaged, try another disc to see whether the CD or DVD drive can read it.

3. If computer can read the other disc, there is a problem with original CD or DVD.

4. And If the computer still cannot read a disc, there may be a problem with the drive.

In this case you should try a different disc drive.If the computer has more than one disc drive, insert the disc in a different CD or DVD drive to see whether it can read the disc.

If your computer does not have more than one disc drive, you can insert the disc in a different computer.If the other CD or DVD drive can read the disc, there may be a problem with your CD or DVD drive.

If the system is unable to read a CD or DVD disc than first make sure following things:-
1. Make sure the disc is clean from dust, fingerprints, and scratches.

2. Handle only at the hub or outer edge. Do not touch the shiny surface.

3. Make sure the CD disc has the label facing outward.

4. Do not insert more than one disc into the drive at a time.

5. Never insert a warped, cracked, or broken disc.

6. Make sure that you are inserting the proper type of disc into the drive.

7. Make certain the disc is properly seated in the tray before you close it.

If still not working than there might be some other problem. Lets find out by another way.Try to copy files from the disc to the hard disk. If the hard disk cannot copy files, the disc might be damaged.

If the files are copied successfully, there may be file types on the disc that the hard disk cannot read, or there may be a problem with the CD or DVD drive.

To test the disc by using a command prompt to copy files, follow these steps:

1. Create a test folder on the hard disk, and then give the folder a folder name such as "cdtest." This is the folder to which you will try to copy files.

2. Click Start, and then click Run.

3. Copy and paste (or type) cmd in the Open box, and then press ENTER.

4. Copy the files from the CD or DVD drive to the test folder on the hard disk. To do this, type xcopy DiscDrive:\*.* HardDiskDrive:\cdtest /v /e at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. Make sure that you replace “cdtest” with the name of your test folder.

5. If you are asked whether cdtest specifies a file name or a directory name, press F.

6. If you successfully copied the files from the disc to the hard disk, the disc is not damaged. To remove the copied files, type rd /s cdtest at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

If you cannot copy the files, the disc may be damaged. Contact the manufacturer of the damaged disc to obtain a replacement.

:cool: