CD drive issues

[Lunarman]

O.k, this is really quite weird. At least I've never had it happen before.

About 3 hours ago I tried to play FFVTTR, it told me there was no disk in the drive. I tried again and the same result. I tried another few disks and an audio cd but none would register as being in the drive. It just said "insert a disk". I noticed that the cd drive was making a lot more noise than normal, humming and whiring and clicking which is a bit worrying.

I've restarted the computer twice now and there's been no change, it seems like the disk reader isn't working correctly.

It has been acting up for a while now, but only little things like the tray not coming out first time you press the button.

Have you any ideas what would cause a CD-drive to suddenly stop reading disks?

Thankyou very much

Lunarman

[the_ultimate_evil]

the lens is most likly gone, this happened to me had to get a replacement drive

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Yep, it sounds like you need a new drive.

They aren't all that expensive if you get a plain CD drive.  I don't think that writer are that expensive anymore either.  (It's been a long time since I've shopped for hardware, though.)

[Lunarman]

Blast, oh well.

Thanks guys. It's good to know what the problem is, and a CD/DVD writer/reader drive is only £24 so I think it'll be fine replacing it.

What's the lifespan of a cd drive normally?

[wickerman]

What's the lifespan of a cd drive normally?

Anywhere from 3 days to 13 years :)


I've had them die in a matter of months - like anything else, there are bad apples in the bunch...

[Lunarman]

I have seen disks that clean  your lens on the market for about 6 pounds. Do you think it's worth trying to clean it  or does the lens really need replacing?

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I doubt it's just dirty.  If it was, it should partially work.  I think you'll have to replace it.

And I've had them break after a few months or last for years.  They are fickle things, but easily replaced.

[Lunarman]

sry to be resurrecting this dead thread. But I just want to say I finally got around to install a new disk drive yesterday and it works great! Thankyou very much everyone, now I can play FFVTTR again and work on my mod :)

[zuludelta]

Just a word of advice... certain brands of older DVD-R/RW drives and standalone DVD recorders (particularly those spec'd to run at 1x-2x maximum read speed... I think Pioneer and the older iMacs/iBooks are the major ones) can get damaged if you play the newer 4x DVD-Rs/DVD-RWs on them. So just be sure to check your drive and media before going any further.