CD Drive won't read CDs

[exodus300]

My CD drive won't read CDs. It shows up in My Computer as not having a CD in the drive. I tried several disks - burnt ones, normal ones - they won't show up. [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[WheeDoggy]

Have you tried a cd head cleaner? (Around $10 US)
Could be dust in there.


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[exodus300]

Yup, I just tried one after reading your post. However, as the CD is not detected, I can't open it up to play it. [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[WheeDoggy]

Gotta quit working so many hours

Did the reading problem occur gradually or suddenly?
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[Alcom]

Won't read ANY cd's? Does your Explorer show that the drive exists? What changed before this started?

If it's just a regular CD-ROM drive, an easy thing to try would be Removing from Device Manager and rebooting to allow Windows to redetect and reinstall the generic drivers.

This would still work with a burner, but you'd need the manufacturer's software and drivers to have it record anything for you.

 

[exodus300]

Wheedoggy,

Not too long ago I had a problem with a partition on my hard drive - the drive appears 'not formatted', and I can't access any of my files. I know the files are still on the drive tho, because I tried a data recovery program, but it froze before giving me the chance to save the files. (btw I haven't fixed it yet).

I haven't used my CD drive for a while, but recently a friend burnt a CD for me, and the drive didn't read it. I assumed there was a problem with the way he burnt the CD, but I now know it wasn't that. This happened AFTER the hard drive problem, so I wonder if they are somehow related?

I'll try reinstlling Windows, see if that helps.

If anybody knows how to solve my CD problem, or the Hard drive problem (see the thread &quot;Help! Drive not formatted&quot;.. I don't know the thread number, I'll post it later if needed), please help me! [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[WheeDoggy]

-exodus300

Sorry, no locate on the thread.

However I can say that there is a slight chance that the drive troubles could be related and that would only be if your ide controller took a turn for the worst. (Assuming you don't have one of the older mobos.)

I can assume that you have tried to read CDs other than the one that your friend burned?
Some cdroms can be tempermental in reading some cds.

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[exodus300]

thread748-473132 is where you'll find it

WheeDoggy,
The CD my friend gave me was the first time I can remember using the drive since the hard drive problem. I assumed at the time that it was a problem with the way the CD was burnt. But now I tried another (not burnt) CD and it didn't detect the disk. So I tried several other disks, burnt and not burnt - nothing happens. The drive shows up in explorer, but it's just as if there's no CD in there.

I will try reinstalling Windows tonight, and let you know if the problem is fixed.

I am wondering if it is possible that I have some kind of virus? I did an online virus scan at Symantec's website, but nothing came up. I don't have any virus scanners on my computer, although I do have ZoneAlarm. Should I download one from somewhere to check my computer?

Thanks guys for your help. [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[WheeDoggy]

ZoneAlarm is a personal firewall - it's function is basically to protect you from unsolicited net communications. It would not be able to detect a virus contained in a download.
You should have a virus scanner installed.
There are some good &quot;free for personal use&quot; vscanners out there. AVG has proven itself worthy - said to be better then Norton.
You can get a copy @

http://www.grisoft.com

Requires free registration.

I saw your previous thread, can you post the error messages that you received?
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[thatrenowned]

I'd try booting into DOS and see if you can read from the drive (just use a 98 boot disk is available...if not, look on

http://www.bootdisk.com).

If you can read from the drive, you know its a Windows problem.

If not, its most likely a hardware problem.

Try using the CD drive in another computer. Try using a different CD drive in your computer (that is assuming you have access to both).

 

[exodus300]

Aaah!!

I made an EBD using Add/Remove Programs->Startup Disk->Create Disk. I rebooted using the disk. It said there were two devices, and my CD-Rom drive is drive E:, however when I put a CD in and tried DIR I got this message:

CDR101: Not ready reading drive E
Abort, Retry, Fail?

And I got the same message (except with an F) when I tried the other drive.


Another bit of info: When I tried using PC Inspector File Recovery to get my stuff of drive D: and it froze after two hours of searching for files, my mouse stopped working. I tried to reinstall the mouse drivers, but it still wouldn't work. Then I tried it on another computer, and it didn't work. I tried another mouse (which I am using now) and it worked, so something happened to that mouse.


Something bad has happened here, and I don't like it! [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[ghuzz]

It appears when you had your hardware problems your drive letters changed and your computer can't locate your cd-rom as the drive letter/s has changed? You remarked above that you searched in E: and it failed to locate it and D: failed to find anything after a 2 hour search? This suggests that your cd-rom is not properly attached/ showing up in your OS. Do you have 2 OS on your computer?

Please post to us your hardware problems before you had this cd-rom failure? It does definetly look like you have had a failed install of some operating system and your drive letters have been changed and/or reassigned?

I have just re-read your posts: you have a unformatted partition, which I take is a failed install of a OS or you never bothered to install another OS, but if you ok'd the newly created partiton this will have changed your drive letters for your cd-rom and might well be your problem?

 

[exodus300]

ghuzz, and other tek-tip members,

I'll restate my situation here.


This is what I had before the problems:
C: HDD Partition 1 (Windows ME, Program files etc)
D: HDD Partition 2 (Documents and stuff)
E: DVD Drive
F: CD-R/RW Drive

Then one day something happened to D: drive - In My Computer it says Local Disk (D and when you try to access it it complains about the disk not being formatted.

So I downloaded PC Inspector to try recovering my stuff from D: so I could format it and have it working again. The program spent 2 hours scanning the drive for files to recover, then the second it finished it crashed.

Now my DVD and CD-R/RW drives don't read CD's. I put the CD in, but the drive shows as Empty in My Computer, and it prompts you to insert a disc when you try to access it. I tried reading from the CD after booting with an Emergency Boot Disk, but I get the error stated above.

I really believe PC Inspector is to blame here, because my mouse broke at the same time as the crash. I don't know exactly when the CD problem started, but I suspect it was at the same time. Although I don't know what happened to my HDD partition in the first place...

Reinstalling Windows is not an option, because the CD drives do not work from the EBD. Well, I do have a copy of Windows 95 on about 20 floppies... but what's the point?

Also, my computer has generally become less stable lately. Internet Explorer has the most problems, it often freezes (especially the first time I open it after connecting to the internet).

If I had the money, I'd just go out and buy a new computer, it seems like the easiest option. But unfortunately I dont!

Thank you all for your input here. I am really questioning the solvability of my problem. I think I'm just going to have to deal with it till I can get another computer. I don't like it, but what can I do?

At least my floppy drive is still working... [Thanks in advance|Hope I helped you]
Exodus300

 

[ghuzz]

ok, thx for your reply! Is C: Win-Me ok, can you boot from C:?
if so, you can use partition magic 7 or 8 to partition your hard drive and reformat your D:\ drive. this should also realign your E: cd-rom and F; your cdrw! Seeing as you don't have the option to reformat your hard-drive through re-installing ( I take it you only have the Win-ME system restore disc and not the proper ME disc, but if you have the system -restore disc it will reinstall Win ME but it will wipe your hard-drive)Win ME it will wipe your hard drive.

Also, if you use Fdisk( from a win 98 or ME floppy boot disk) this will also wipe your hard drive. If you have no money, you can download a pirate version of partition magic at Kazaa, but beware, there are many viruses in their downloads!

You need a partition tool to help you to reformat D: without losing your files, as yet, I only know about Partition magic, perhaps other technies might have other information on free partition tools which won't wipe your hard drive and allow you to reformat D:!

And this tool you downloaded, I would suggest deleting pc-inspector through add/remove in control panel. it appears that your problems were exacerbated with this utility as you had a error saying D: was not formatted. Could you explain what you formatted D: as, was it FAT32 or NTFS and what tool did you use to format D; before using pc-inspector?

good luck I hope this helps ya!

 

[Codecracker]

Ok My cd-rw/dvd won't read any cds. Windows says it's there but when i open it the disc is &quot;empty&quot; I've tried it under ms-dos but to no avail. I know i have good drivers and i know the drive is ok...i'm just alittle confused. I had gotten a few error messages about the device had a bad block or something...any help would be great., Thanks,
Jerad

 

[farrow]

i had a similar problem with my cd drive a while back. in the end i just bought a new one and now its fine.