CD Drive sometimes doesn't open

Randal-ThorRandal-Thor Australia
edited March 2009 in Hardware
Hey all.

This is a minor issue which bugs me every now and then. Basically what happens is this. I open my CD drive as usual and put in either a DVD or CD (doesn't matter which one, the problem occurs with both). Anyway, I use the disc and when I'm finished, close it and open the CD Drive. What happens occasionally is that the drive won't open, no matter what I do (ie. press the button or press eject on the computer). The computer hums as if it is reading the disc, and I can still use the disc. I just can't remove it from the computer.

As soon as I restart the computer, everything's fine. But I would like to know why this occurs and how to fix it.

I have an ACER 7900Pro computer, with over 2GB RAM and a 2.4GHz processor.

Your help and ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    It could be your drive is wearing out. Go into the Device Manager and uninstall the drive. Shut down the computer and pull the power and ribbon cables from the drive. Restart the computer without the cables attached, then shut it down again. Reconnect the cables and restart the computer. After Windows re-detects the drive and reinstalls it, and if it still doesn't not operate properly, you probably need to replace it.
  • Randal-ThorRandal-Thor Australia
    edited March 2009
    Leonardo wrote:
    It could be your drive is wearing out. Go into the Device Manager and uninstall the drive. Shut down the computer and pull the power and ribbon cables from the drive. Restart the computer without the cables attached, then shut it down again. Reconnect the cables and restart the computer. After Windows re-detects the drive and reinstalls it, and if it still doesn't not operate properly, you probably need to replace it.

    Thanks for your reply. I'll give that a shot shortly and tell you if it works.

    Unfortunately, another computer in the house is having a problem with a different CD drive. What happens is when you place a disk in the drive, the computer sounds like it starts to read the disk then stops, then tries again, then stops. You can open and close the drive fine. When you go into my computer the cd drive shows up but not the disk. I can click on the cd drive and explore it, but the disk won't show up at all. It appears the computer isn't reading the cd drive.

    Your help will be greatly appreciated.:)
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Sounds to me like a dirty disc or a dirty drive. I'd replace it. CD drives are quite inexpensive.
  • NorgeNorge Sidney, Ohio
    edited March 2009
    For your second problem are you trying to put a DVD disc in a CD drive perhaps? I know I've done that before without checking what kind of drive I am inserting the DVD into. If it isn't a DVD drive it will not read a DVD disc.

    Norge
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    wololo! norge! :D
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    What the deuce. It's Norge.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Norge, you were waiting under a bridge to snatch us as we walked over, but we didn't cross it. You became lonely and came out in the open, is that it?

    Welcome back!
  • Randal-ThorRandal-Thor Australia
    edited March 2009
    Buddy J wrote:
    Sounds to me like a dirty disc or a dirty drive. I'd replace it. CD drives are quite inexpensive.

    So there's nothing you could suggest I do? I tired cleaning with a cleaning disk but it didn't work because the drive didn't read it. Could it perhaps be too dirty? Would canned air maybe work?
    Norge wrote:
    For your second problem are you trying to put a DVD disc in a CD drive perhaps? I know I've done that before without checking what kind of drive I am inserting the DVD into. If it isn't a DVD drive it will not read a DVD disc.

    Yeah it plays both CDs and DVDs.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Sure, you could try canned air. Maybe there's just lint or dust obscuring a laser.

    If you've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drive as I posted above, tried cleaning, and are sure all the cables are firmly attached, then most likely the drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

    CD/DVD drives, especially the generic ones, are often the shortest lived components in a computer. The good news is that new ones are fairly inexpensive.
  • NorgeNorge Sidney, Ohio
    edited March 2009
    Randal'Thor wrote:
    Yeah it plays both CDs and DVDs.
    I'd go ahead and try cleaning that one too if you haven't already. Try several different CDs/DVDs as well to make sure it isn't just a bad disc. It would probably be worth doing the uninstall/reinstall that Leonardo suggested on that drive as well. If that doesn't work the 2nd drive might need to be replaced too.


    It was lonely under the bridge. I was cold and there were wolves after me.

    I've been lurking around for a bit, keeping up with articles on the front page, and skimming the forums. Just kind of taking it all in. I'll try to pipe up a bit more if I can.

    Norge
  • Randal-ThorRandal-Thor Australia
    edited March 2009
    Norge wrote:
    I'd go ahead and try cleaning that one too if you haven't already. Try several different CDs/DVDs as well to make sure it isn't just a bad disc. It would probably be worth doing the uninstall/reinstall that Leonardo suggested on that drive as well. If that doesn't work the 2nd drive might need to be replaced too.


    It was lonely under the bridge. I was cold and there were wolves after me.

    I've been lurking around for a bit, keeping up with articles on the front page, and skimming the forums. Just kind of taking it all in. I'll try to pipe up a bit more if I can.

    Norge

    Sorry for the delayed reply. I haven't tried the cable idea yet; I have found out however that on the disk drive I have mentioned, it will burn and read burnt dvds. It won't, however, read Cds like Microsoft Office 2007. Perhaps the laser has died? I have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, updating the driver, cleaning the drive with canned air and even tried a cleaning disk with no results.

    I will try the cable idea on the first one soon. As for the second one, I guess I'll have to replace it.:p
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