My computer won't run CDs....

[beeej21]

I have an older system that I am trying to install a couple games on. The computer reads the autorun CD, but when I click on the "Install' option, the CD spins, stops, and then nothing happens. The "hourglass" icon comes on for a few seconds while the CD spins, and I think it's about to start installing, then it stops. No error messages, nothing.

This is the same for both games I am trying to install: Battlefield 2 and Madden '06. I've even had trouble playing audio CDs. It will start playing a song, and then stop. Then skip all the tracks trying to find a playable track. ( using Windows Media Player and iTunes ).

I've successfully installed both games on another computer, so I know it isn't my CDs. ( original purchased games, btw ). I've played the same audio CDs on the other computer without incident too.

I have tried removing my Sony OEM CD/DVD/CD-R/DVD-R and using another drive from another computer, but I have the same problem. I've used THIS same drive on another computer, and it installs fine on that computer. So I know it isn't my cd drive.

I am at a complete loss. Any suggestions or answers would be GREATLY appreciated. Here are the details of the computer that is giving me issues:

motherboard: Gigabyte 7N400
processor: AMD Athlon XP2000+ 1.7GHz
RAM: 1.5GB
Video card: ATI Radeon X800 w/256MB of RAM
cd/dvd drive: Sony Model DW-Q30A-B2 - OEM
HD: Maxtor 80GB IDE
OS: MS XP Pro v.2002 w/ Service Pack 2

Thank you in advance for any and all advice and answers that I you may offer me.

 

[beeej21]

I found a ton of errors in the event viewer. I have no idea what all this means, but here's what the Event Viewer is telling me:

Date: 6/16/2006
Time:
Type: Error
User: N/A
Computer: COMP NAME
Source: Cdrom
Catagory: None
Event ID: 11


Description:
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\CdRom0.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Then there's a Data field with two options ( Bytes and Words) both which create a ton of 1's and 0's, and other characters.

I hope this information will help someone help me find a solution.

 

[Codeman0013]

first before you do anything try cleaning the laser off with some canned air and then some rubbing alcohol just a little on the actual lenz some times this error can be caused by that problem if not try taking the rom out and trying it in another computer or possibly if you have one put a temporary one in yours to check it is the drive this could also be a power problem as i had an older computer with all the same problems and after some testing i tried another psu on it and it came back on and worked just fine try all those steps they may help ya!

Remember free things are fun but they can come with an emotional price tags..

 

[wolluf]

CD drives do just die - and need to be replaced.

 

[beeej21]

Well, I found that part of the problem was a bad IDE cable. Replacing the cable helped 90% of the issues. It now plays audio cds flawlessly, and I was even able to install BF2 ! Yay! Unfortunately, for some reason, Madden still won't install. I am not too worried about that though.

This drive is actually fairly new. It's only about 7 months old. I just hadn't done much on this machine cuz I work on the other machines mostly. The IDE cable could have been faulty from the beginning, I just didn't realize it until recently.

I'm still gonna try Codeman0013's suggestion and clean all my drive lenses. Thanks for all the suggestions.