my cd dvd drive won’t work
There will be a few reasons why a CD/DVD drive won’t work anymore. Let’s check some things first:
- Put a disc (a music CD that you know works) into the drive and go into My Computer. Note whether the My Computer folder detects the drive.
- Go to Device Managar (in Control Panel) and see if the drive is listed there.
- Restart your computer and go into CMOS setup (during loading look to the bottom of the screen it’ll ask you to press something to go into Boot Menu or setup; press the button for either.) Make sure that the boot menu and the CMOS program lists the CD drive.
If the drive is missing from the first two but not the third then it’s most likely a software issue and you just need to reinstall the drive. Make sure you install the newest firmware and drivers for the device. If however the drive is missing from all three (especially the last one) then it’s going to be a physical problem. Now it’s time to open up the computer. (Make sure you properly ground yourself.)
DISCLAIMER: This does involve steps that might mess up your system. It shouldn’t but there’s always that chance with technology. I recommend backing up all of your data before doing this. You can also go to a local computer shop at this point.
What you’ll need to do is make sure that the connection to the drive havn’t accidentaly been jossled. Unplug the cables from your drive and firmly (but gently!) plug them back in. Then turn the computer back on and check the CMOS again. Is the drive there?
If it isn’t then it’s going to be one of two problems:
1)A broken controller on the motherboard.
2)A busted drive.
Here’s how to see if it’s a broken controller:
History Lesson:
There are many different ports, plugs and cables in your computer. These cables are forever changing to newer designs and better performance. One cable that has stuck around for a long time is called the IDE cable. Basically it’s a wide and thin grey cable that looks like the picture on the right. This cable connects to “ports” on the motherboard called the IDE controllers.
What you need to do:
Now there will be two devices that plug into these controllers: CD/DVD drives and Hard Drives. Therefore you’ll have two connections on your motherboard, one for the CD drive and the other for the Hard Drive. Now we know that the Hard Drive is working fine so we know that the IDE controller that the Hard Drive is plugged into is working fine.
Basically we unplug Hard Drive cable from it’s controller port and we plug in the CD ROM cable into that port. Once that is done turn the computer back on and look into the CMOS. If there drive is there then the problem is a broken controller and you can buy a PCI-card version for cheap.
If however the drive still fails to work then you need a new CD/DVD drive.
The Fake Geek