Do I have a damaged CD drive?

[Battl]

Hello,
I have been looking through some of the posts regarding CD devices and I have not come across anything that helps me with my problem. Perhaps if any of you have had a similar problem you may be able give me some tips.

My CD drive has previuosly worked without error but now there is a strange problem. When the drive attempts to read a data cd, it recognizes it as an audio cd and Winamp is called up and it attempts to play the cd for a few seconds before crashing.

When the drive attempts to read an audio cd, it is successful at reading the disc (it recognizes the correct number of tracks and lengths of songs) but is unable to actually play the cd. The player generates some static noise and then crashes.

Also, the cd drive seems to need an extra long time to read the discs. I can hear the disc speeding up and then stopping several times before there is any reaction from the operating system, i.e. winamp starting up.

I have tried the regular avenues of removing the drive and reinstalling the drivers, etc. but I am still left with a faulty drive. Do the symptoms I have described sound like those of a damaged cd drive?

[yawningdog]

I'm going to say yes, your cd rom drive is now an anchor. Time for a new one. Wait for another response though.

Um, welcome to the pc guide. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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[Paleo Pete]

I agree, it sounds like it's on the way to never-never land.

If you happen to be mechanically inclined, adn into tinkering, you can try cleaning the drive capstans, that will often cure the problem you describe. The capstans get dirty and they cannot spin the CD properly, so it can't read the disk, and you see the stopping-starting you mentioned, usually if it reads the disk at all it takes ages, often you get a "Cannot read from device" or similar error message.

Remove the top cover of the drive and look for two round plastic hubs that squeeze the disk between them, about an inch in diameter. Usually the top one is white and sometimes mounted on a rectangular plate, the bottom one is attached to the drive motor and usually black. Clean these with rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips, and make sure you do not drip alcohol into the drive or touch the laser lens,

Replace the top cover and give it an hour to dry, then hook it up and try it. If it still won't work, it was close enough to gone to begin with, if it does, you get a bit more life out of it.

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[Gallaeglagh]

Couldn't the lens be cleaned while it was apart. I've heard you can try air duster, water, alchohol and lighter fluid. Myself I've never used anything but canned air but if you can't get the drive to work and are willing to try anything proceed with caution. Keeping in mind you might damage a drive that might actually be ok.

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