CD/DVD ROM drive not working on my laptop

[Great Cornholio]

I posted this somewhere else on here...then stumbled upon this part of the forum. It seems like it might fit better here. Sorry for the double postings.



The laptop that I use is old, but I don't have the money for a new one plus a lot of my work software works better with this older windows etc. Anyways long story short is its a Compaq Presario M2108US (never took the sticker off so thats what it says) I bought it in Aug of 2005, if that helps you guys out.

Anyways I can put a CD in the CD drive and the light lights up and I hear it spin up, but nothing ever happens. Have tried it with both data cds and DVDs. When I go to device manager it shows that the device is connected and "working properly"...even though obviously its not. Also if I go to "my computer" the CD drive does NOT show up as a drive that I can double click on. Only shows my hard drive.

Thanks for your help

Great Cornholio

 

[Great Cornholio]

Update
1. I have tried to uninstall it via device manager and that didn't fix it.

2. I have Daemon tools on the computer and it seems like that may be the drive that is being seen in device manager. I have come to this conclusion due to the fact that I've gone to compaq.com and the devices listed online had a different name than the one that my computer is seeing now.

3. Could it be a loose hardware issue? I've never taken a laptop apart before how hard is that stuff to fix? (I have done stuff like this to a desktop)

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[corkyg]

As I stated in your other post, it sounds like your optical drive is kaput. If you have tried reinstalling, etc., and have used a cleaning disk on it, your options are to replace it. The cheapest would be a USB external. Check EBay for internal drives suitable for your make and model.

 

[Great Cornholio]

Thanks again for your help. As I said sorry for double posting, but I put it in the other forum when I was getting ready for work and only had about a min to type it. I got off work and checked it out again and thats when I had time to search around and saw this part of the forum. I haven't tried a cleaning disk yet and wont be able to for a few days since I work in the travel industry and stay in hotels without a car so getting to the store is something that has to wait till I'm actually home. Hopefully that works, but I'm not expecting it too. In all honesty I'm surprised the laptop is still working at all. Especially since its spent the better part of the last 3 years travelling with me.