My CD Drive will not read CD's

Question

Ok...my CD disk drive will not read any cds...I will put a cd in and nothing happens, so I'll click on My Computer and click on Disk Drive: D (or whatever it is) and when I click that it says Please Insert A Disk...what the heck is going on here?! I really don't want to have to replace anything on this thing...can anyone tell me what's going on?!?!?! I have a new digital camera that I got for Christmas and I'd really love to be able to use it on the computer...please help!!:smileyindifferent:

bacillus · Answer

hmm, which model laptop, operating system and how old is it?

anaguiu57 · Answer

Hi, I'm having the same problem. I keep getting the message to insert a cd when the cd is in the drive already. Anyone have any ideas on what the problem may be? Thanks.

Cranky_TLLW · Answer

Umm   Have you tried to Reseat the CD Drive and delete the drivers from the Device Manager. ????? :smileyhappy:

anaguiu57 · Answer

Thx cranky ... how do I delete the drivers? And won't I need to reinstall them again? Do I just do "update driver"? I tried that and it said I had the most current driver. Will deleting the driver and reinstalling take care of the problem?

I think it may be the module itself though...this morning it started making a "rattling" noise . The CD was spinning, but it wasn't being recognized.

Cranky_TLLW · Answer

Hey

You can delete the drivers using the following steps.

Remove the CDROM drivers in Safe Mode

To Boot the system to safe mode. refer to the link

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1027295

Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
Click the System icon.
The System Properties window will open.
Click the Hardware tab.
Click the Device Manager button.
Click the plus (+) sign beside DVD/CDROM Drives to expand the category.
Highlight each entry and click the Remove button until all of the entries are gone.
Reboot and allow the CD-ROM drivers to be redetected and reinstalled

If the Operating System of the Computer is Microsoft® Windows® XP or Windows 2000® then the drivers for the drive will be reloaded after you reboot the Computer.

If the system is under warranty then you can get the CD Drive replaced as it is also making the noise. Dell Replaces parts if they make noises.

Happy Computing

Cranky

anaguiu57 · Answer

kay Cranky ... I'll try that ...thx

Cranky_TLLW · Answer

Any time, am always there to help computing fraternity :smileyvery-happy:

wesmargot · Answer

I have also been experiencing the same problem. I have an Inspiron 8000 purchased with an LG DVD DRN8080B in 2001. Runs on Win XP Pro SP2. All was going well until about 3 months ago (pre instal of XP SP2). I cannot put my finger on what started the problem but I now have a combo CD-R/DVD-R where the CD doesn't work but the DVD does. I have tried updated drivers, updated firmware, removing the hardware and checking all connections and ribbon cable.

There are several threads here from other users all reporting the same or similar issue but as yet not having any success short of buying a new drive. I have logged a call with Technical Support and shall see what happens. To date as far as I can see no Forum Moderator from Dell has responded to this issue but it certainly appears as if Dell may have a problem in this regard.

Cranky_TLLW · Answer

Hey did you do all the prerequistes before installing SP2. Just check the link.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090448

and if possible then please uninstall the Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 and then try if the Drive is working.

To uninstall the SP2 , follow the steps in the link.

http://www.auburn.edu/oit/support/employees/xpsp2/ht_uninstalling_sp2.php

If it is then follow the below mentioned procedure to upgrade to Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2

(A) Flash the system BIOS to the Latest Version released by Dell

(B) update the operating system of all updtes that were released before SP2 was released.

NOTE: I am a big typo so Spellings may be.......

Cranky

:smileywink:

espresso_junkie · Answer

Hello All,   I am having the exact same problem - and have diagnosed at least part of the problem.  If I burn a data CD on my Dell, it writes it - then shows that the there is nothing on the disc.  If I right click on the drive, it shows 0 files, 0 bytes free, 0 bytes used (I have a new DELL Inspiron 1150 running XP Pro).  But if I take the disc and put it on a different machine, it works perfectly.  So it's not a problem with the burning of the disc.  Then I burned a data disc on another machine, tested it to make sure it was good - then placed it in my Dell and it showed nothing (just like the other).    So I messed around with the security settings in McAffee, just to see if something was prohibiting it from reading the drive.  I couldn't really find any settings that seemed to relate to the drive.  After unsuccessfully messing around with it for a while, I gave up temporarily and shut my computer down.  Upon rebooting later on (with the disc in the drive), a very strange thing happened - the disc suddenly showed up as it should, with all the data I had written on it!   But as soon as I ejected the disc and reloaded it - the problem came back.  It doesn't show up!  If anyone has any suggestions or has a similar problem that they've solved, PLEASE clue me in.   Also, I've read many threads on Dell of users experiening the same problem.  This seems to be somewhat common and I'm sure that there is an easier fix than replacing the drive.   Thanks in advance to anyone reading this, dave

anaguiu57 · Answer

I just had a thought ...is it at all possible that we could all have a virus that is causing the drive to not read cds? I know it sounds stupid, but it's wierd that we are all experiencing similar problems at the same time?

anaguiu57 · Answer

I gave up ... I just ordered a new dvd-rom disk drive module . Hopefully it will work.

I installed svc pk 2 a couple of weeks ago. Just had the problem with the drive this weekend . On Saturday I copied some music files to an mp3 player. That was the last time the drive recognized a cd . After that it stopped working.

I also have an external burner attached ... that was working as well, but now it freezes up my whole system when I try to use it for music cds. It will only work for data cds ...

If the new drive doesn't work...I"m getting a new laptop !

wesmargot · Answer

Hi All,

This problem started pre SP2 - I installed SP2 in the vague hope it might help (flimsy I know but I was desparate). My BIOS is completely updated, I have deleted the drivers and reinstalled. My anti-virus update is always up to date and I scan regularly along with spyware checks.On occasion I can pull the CD/DVD apart, put it back together, FIRMLY close a cd in there and it has worked but no more. It appeared to work less with each of these tenuous solutions as time went by. I think that's why some people thought they were onto a solution because sometimes they did work but gradually they eventually fail and nothing gets the dang thing started again. Trust me I have tried everything that has ever been suggested for this problem. As my warranty ran out quite some time ago I am left with a CD-R/DVD-R where only DVD's play and am now looking at buying an external USB CD player as you can only spend so much time on these problems.

Just so you know this player, in the scheme of things, had very little use for either DVD's or CD's so it certainly wasn't wear and tear.

Cheers and good luck to anyone else as I submit to defeat.

goldimuru · Answer

I am having the same problem after using my cd drive only three times.  I would say there is definitely a physical problem with the cd drive; it will rev but will not read anything but DVDs.  It's kind of ridiculous that the drive burned out so quickly, but I guess it's better to hit the problem now rather than later.  I think perhaps Dell themselves should address this issue and maybe stop selling faulty drives.

hkrsk · Answer

My Inspiron 8500 has been doing this intermittently since I purchased it about 2 years ago. Dell once replaced my CD-RW/DVD drive, but the same thing still happens. Sometimes it recognizes the data CD, sometimes it does not recognize that there is a CD loaded, sometimes it thinks there is a blank CD when in fact the CD has data.
DELL- WAKE UP!!! THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR NOTEBOOK CD DRIVES!!!!!!

Message Edited by hkrsk on 01-24-2005 09:09 PM

Storage, Drives & Media

My CD Drive will not read CD's

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