CD/DVD Drive not functioning correctly.

Hello all!

My problem is that my CD/DVD drive has stopped functioning properly. It started a couple of weeks ago; I was trying to burn some work onto a CD, and it never finished its preliminary formatting (I never even got the chance to put anyone on the disc). I just got an error message saying something along the lines of 'Windows could not complete the format'. Now, when I tried to use that CD in another computer, the CD couldn't be used. I found it odd, because I can remember that the night before, I was ripping some music CD's completely fine.

Also, my friend made me a CD with some music on. When I put it in to rip the tracks off, it came up saying that I had inserted a Blank CD and asked if I wanted to burn it. Obviously I didn't so I ejected it, and tried the CD on a different computer and it was fine. I tried a different CD that he made, and the exact same thing happened.

So basically, my drive is recognising that there is a disc in there, but it's not doing what it should be doing!

Any help that anyone can give will be great.

Thanks in advance!

 

Does your drive recognise other media? Other burned CD's, retail CD's?
Some drives still just don't like some media for whatever reason.
I've had burns fail too, try new media and it works fine.

Try some different things and see if what works and what doesn't (if anything). I could be worth using a cleaner on it. If it still fails buy a new one. There cheap now days.

 

If you haven't already, use a different program to try and play one of the music CD's, just for the heck of it - you never know - it could be a software issue, but I doubt it. If that works you can try another program to burn and see what happens. Like xmeister asked, does it still read other kinds of CD's? Or does it treat all media as "blank" no matter what is on it?

I also recommend a good cleaning - most manufacturers suggest cleaning after around 10 hrs of use. If you don't have one, cleaning CD's can be had for under $10.00 US.

If that doesn't work - then it may be time for a new drive. Like xmeister said optical drives are getting really inexpensive now. A DVD/CD-RW combo drive can be had for under $20.00 US. For that matter a DVD burner (which will write to DVDs or CD's) is not much more. Plus they are very easy to install.