My CD-ROM Drive is not working!!!

[RJHNY1]

My CD-ROM drive isn't working on my desktop. It won't recognize whatever CD I put in there. I know it's not the CD's fault b/c I tried the same CD on my laptop and it worked fine. Also, I tried other CD's in the faulty CD ROM Drive and it wouldn't load those too.

It worked this morning. Now it's not working.

The driver does open and close. I checked device manager and it says the device is working properly. I tried to update drivers, but no new updates out there. I tried to reboot. I tried to shut down completely then fire it up again. All of this to no avail.

Everything looks fine inside the computer. The connections are secure.

One thing though. When I put the CD in, I got that little CD icon on the mouse pointer that signifies the CD-ROM is "loading." Yet, it won't put the CD I put in to work.

Suggestions?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Blow it out with canned air, use a cd lens cleaner, last resort is to take it apart and clean the lens with a foam swab and 90% alcohol.

 

[Slikkster]

If nothing else but to rule this possibility out, try the tip on the link I'm including below about deleting upper/lower filters entries in the registry. Reboot afterwards. Read the tip here:

http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid1_gci961565,00.html

Don't worry if you don't have the specific program(s) the page refers to. Just look in the registry and see if you have the filters entries the tip mentions and get rid of them.

 

[RJHNY1]

Thanks for the help so far. I tried using compressed air, but nothing.

I did this:

I went to control panel, Adminstrative tools, Computer Management, System Tools, and then event viewer.

I see that there were errors with the CD-ROM. It says "the driver detected a controller error on .01%." What does that mean?

 

[RJHNY1]

Slikkster, I went to the registry and didn't see anything that said "upperfilter" or "lowerfilter"

 

[Slikkster]

Ok, here's what I would do next. Go back to Device Manager. Look for IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers on the list.

Click on it to open it up.

If you have Primary and Secondary channels listed, click on each to see which one the CDROM is on. Chances are it's the secondary, but check, nonetheless.

If it's an "all-in-one" type controller, like an Nvidia controller, that's fine, too. The instructions will be the same.

Once you determine which controller the CDROM is on, choose "Uninstall" from Device Manager. Same thing if it's a combo all-in-one controller. Uninstall it.

To uninstall it, right click on the channel/controller and choose uninstall, or highlight the channel/controller, and choose Uninstall from the Actions menu.

Windows will prompt you that you need to reboot in order for it to finish.

When you boot back in, Windows will redetect your CDROM (or ALL your devices if it's a combo controller) and install them. You'll probably be prompted to reboot one more time. Do so.

Now, check the CDROM to see if it works.

 

[RJHNY1]

Ok, in device manager, under IDE/ATA/ATAPI controllers, I see:

Nvidia Nforce MCP2 IDE Controller
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel

How do I know which one the CD-ROM is on? Sorry for that stupid question, I can't seem to tell.

I think it's the secondary b/c it's the one where I can enable or disable the "device usage" (on the bottom when I click on it).

 

[Slikkster]

Just uninstall the entire MCP controller, and let Windows redetect it at startup. If you want to be absolutely safe, create a restore point in system restore before uninstalling.

Follow the previous instructions about the reboots.

 

[RebateMonger]

The drive simply may have failed. CD-ROM drives seem to be longer-lived these days, but a few years ago the average lifetime of a CD-ROM drive was less than a year. A common cause is dirt or gumming or loss of lubricant on the laser head guidance rails.

 

[RJHNY1]

Slikkster, I uninstalled "Nvidia Nforce MCP2 IDE Controller" and followed your directions. This did not change anything. The same problem persists.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for your help thus far.

 

[RJHNY1]

Here's an update:

-The heating problem may be solved. I opened up the computer and put it on a table so I could get a really good look. I noticed a lot of dust inside the power supply and blew it out with compressed air. I'm hoping that will alleviate the heating issue.

-The CD-ROM drive. No pins are bent in the back of the CD-ROM or on the mobo. The IDE cable seems to be fine. I tried the "second" IDE plug in the back of the CD-ROM and it still didn't work. The thing is, the CD-ROM is receiving power. It's opening up and the yellow light goes on.

-I found a spare IDE connector. I tried the CD-ROM, same problem. I tried uninstalling (as Slikkster provided instructions for earlier in this thread) and having the computer reinstall it with the new IDE connector. Same problem.

So it's established the IDE connector isn't the problem. Maybe it's the lens? I should get one of those lens cleaner that you put into the CD-ROM Drive? I really don't want to open it up and use the cotton swab. I'm not that experienced to do that sort of thing b/c I'm afraid I'll damage the CD-ROM Drive if I open it up.

 

[tommytran]

Does it has a play button itselft? If it has, can it play an audio CD?

 

[RJHNY1]

I tried to play an audio CD, but same problem. I went into Windows Media Player and navigated to the D: drive, but there was "nothing there."

 

[Slikkster]

Given the cost of a new CDROM/CDRW I don't know that I would be spending too much more time on this one. Your time has to be worth something, right? You've done the simple stuff, and short of trying another drive on the same connection to see if IT works, I don't know what else to tell you.

You can get a good 52x CDRW (burner) for about $25 shipped from many places, like mwave.com, ebay, buy.com, etc.

 

[RJHNY1]

Alright Slikkster, thanks for your help. I appreciate the time you gave me to try to fix the problem.

 

[Slikkster]

I'm not one who likes to "give up" on any problem, but sometimes you have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of continuing the struggle. I've had CDROMs go bad before, and there's really not much you can do about it if you don't have another platform to test them on, or a replacement to test in the position that's currently bad. I'd hate to see you spend extra $$$ on "lens cleaner", because if the lens is truly dirty/faulty, I think that would be a temporary fix, at best. Good luck.

Stick with brand name drives like Lite-On, Samsung, Sony, etc. I looked at mwave.com, and they had some for about $25/26 after shipping costs. Same with buy.com.

 

[RJHNY1]

Hey Slikkster, I tried a different CD-ROM (from my parents' computer). It works and reads the CD. So the problem is isolated to my CD-ROM. Probably the lens.

Can you recommend any good CD-ROM drives that will read CDs, burn CDs, read DVDs, and burn DVDs? Also in the color black.

I have a combo CD/DVD drive. I'll be upgrading to Vista soon, but the Vista Upgrade Advisor says I need a DVD Burner, so I guess the timing isn't bad.

 

[Slikkster]

Vista comes on DVD, so yes, you'll need at least a DVD reader, not necessarily a burner. But why not get a burner? Here's a great Pioneer combo drive that does just about everything. It burns DVDs, CDR's, CDRW's, DVDRW, etc. The only thing it won't burn is "DVD-RAM" discs, but big deal. It burns DVD+R, DVD+R Dual Layer, etc. It will be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16827129001


About $38 shipped from newegg.com. Newegg is great for customer service should you need to return the drive.

Plenty of great reviews on the drive, as you'll see on the link above.

 

[RebateMonger]

The current NEC DVD+-RW drives, for about the same price, also have a good reputation.