My CD drive hardly recognizes discs

[katt]

Hello,

whenever I insert a cd/dvd disc into the driver, 95% of the time it doesn't play or even recognise it in 'Devices and Removable Storage'. I usually have to keep ejecting and inserting around 10 times, if I'm lucky, before it works.

I've tried looking for errors in Device Manager but can't find any, and it says it's working properly when I click Properties. There are also no updates available, so I take it it's already updated. Any suggestions?

Thankyou so much

 

[Mark56]

This sounds like the drive is failling but it could just be a dirty laser lens. Try running a cleaning disc through it. If that fails it's time for a new drive.

 

[mike1959]

I have found in the past, that when an optical drive starts to fail, you can hear it hunting around on the disc, fail to lock, then repeat that several times over then give up.
It's not a difficult job to fit a new drive, and not expensive either. Most of the manufacturers do a CD/DVD RW for about £15 (UK) or $25 ish.

 

[katt]

that's exactly what it does, thanks for the solution

 

[mike1959]

No problem.