What reads disks. Solving software problems. Why doesn't the drive read discs?
Despite the fact that the use of CD/DVD drives is gradually inferior to other methods of reading information, nevertheless, for a number of operations it is still quite relevant, for example, for installation operating system, stored on disk. Therefore, the failure of this device can be very inappropriate. Let's figure out what causes the drive to not read discs and how to solve this problem in Windows 7.
We will not focus on such a banal reason for the problem of reading information from an optical drive as a defect in the disk itself, but will focus on malfunctions of the drive and the system. Among the main causes of the problem we are studying may be:
- Drive hardware faults;
- OS failure;
- Driver problems.
Below we will look various ways solve the problem in as much detail as possible.
Method 1: Solving hardware problems
First of all, let's focus on solving hardware problems. The reason that the drive does not read discs may be its failure or incorrect connection. First you need to check the connection of the cables to the SATA or IDE ports. They should be inserted into the connectors as tightly as possible. You can also try reconnecting the device to an alternative port (usually there are several of them). If the cause of the problem lies in the cable itself, you can try cleaning the contacts, but it is better to replace it with a new one.
However, it is quite possible that the drive itself is broken. One indirect confirmation of this may be the fact that it reads DVDs, but does not read CDs, or vice versa. This indicates defects in the operation of the laser. Malfunction can be expressed in various forms: from failure of microcircuits due to overheating to dust settling on the lens. In the first case, you cannot do without the services of a professional technician, but it is even better to purchase a working CD/DVD-ROM. In the second case, you can try to clean the lens with a cotton swab yourself. Although for some device models this is quite problematic, since they are not designed by the manufacturers for disassembly.
Method 2: Enable in Device Manager
However, even a working drive can be disabled due to some kind of failure or intentional actions. "Device Manager". Therefore, it is imperative to check this option and, if necessary, activate the drive.
- Click "Start". Go to "Control Panel".
- Go to "System and safety".
- Now press "Device Manager".
- Will start "Device Manager". In the list of equipment, click on the name "DVD and CD-ROM drives» . If this name does not appear or the drive name does not appear when you click on it, this means either a hardware failure of the drive or it is disabled. For the procedure in the first case, see Method 1. If the DVD/CD-ROM is simply disabled, then the problem can be solved right there.
- Click on the horizontal menu "Action". Choose "Update hardware configuration".
- A new device search will be performed.
- After that click on again "DVD and CD-ROM drives". This time, if everything is fine with the drive hardware, its name should be displayed.
Method 3: Reinstalling drivers
The next reason why the drive may not see the disk is incorrectly installed drivers. In this case, you need to reinstall them.
If this method didn’t help, you can use specialized ones.
Method 4: Uninstall programs
The problem with reading discs through the drive may be caused by the installation individual programs, which create virtual drives. These include others. Then you need to try to remove this software, but it’s better not to do this using Windows tools, but by using specialized applications, for example, .
- Run Uninstall Tool. In the list that opens in the application window, find the program that can create virtual disks, select it and press "Uninstallation".
- After this, the standard uninstaller of the selected application will launch. Act according to the recommendations displayed in its window.
- After uninstallation, the Uninstall Tool will scan your system for residual files and registry entries.
- If uninstalled items are detected, the Uninstall Tool will display a list of them. In order to completely remove them from your computer, just click the button "Delete".
- After the procedure for removing residual elements is completed, you need to exit the information window indicating the successful completion of the procedure by simply clicking the button "Close".
Method 5: System Restore
In some cases, even if the above programs are removed, the problem with reading disks may persist, since this software has managed to make the appropriate changes to the system. In this and some other cases, it makes sense to roll back the OS to a restore point created before the described malfunction occurred.
- Click "Start". Go to "All programs".
- Go to the directory "Standard".
- Open the folder "Service".
- Find the inscription "System Restore" and click on it.
- The standard OS recovery utility will launch. Click "Further".
- The next window will present a list of restore points. Select the most recent one that was created before the drive problem occurred, and click "Further".
- In the next window, to start the recovery procedure to the selected point, click "Ready".
- The computer will restart and the recovery procedure will occur. After this, you can check the drive for functionality.
As you can see, the reason that the drive has stopped seeing disks can be various factors, both hardware and software. But if there is a hardware problem regular user is not always able to solve it on his own, then in case of software errors there are algorithms of action that almost everyone can operate.
Very often the computer does not have enough memory to store all the accumulated information. With filling hard drive there is a need to transfer data to other media. Flash drives are expensive, but disks, in comparison, cost pennies.
But even here problems may arise; discs may suddenly become unreadable by your drive. This article will tell you about possible reasons breakdowns and will help solve the problem.
Why did the drive stop reading discs?
There can be many reasons for this, ranging from problems with the disk to complete failure of the disk drive. However, all the reasons can be divided into two categories, hardware and software problems.
Hardware problems are caused by problems with the hardware. The following problems fall into this category:
- The cause may be the disk itself; its wear can be so severe that no disk drive can read it.
- The drive may no longer accept discs due to contamination. Over the entire period of operation, a large amount of dust accumulates inside the computer, which can get into the drive and settle on the read head.
- Loose connecting wires will also affect the performance of the device.
These are the most common hardware problems; determining which of these led to the failure can only be done “surgically”, that is, you need to get into the system unit.
Diagnosing software problems is much easier. If problems appear after installing some software, then we can talk about software incompatibility.
Solutions to hardware problems reading disks.
Is your drive not reading discs? Don’t rush to throw it away and run to buy a new one. First, check the condition of the disk inserted into the drive; if it is in poor condition, then the reason may lie in the damaged disk, and not the drive. Remove the disc from the drive and inspect it for scratches and abrasions.
If everything is fine with the disk, then we move on. It's worth testing the drive on other drives different types: CD, DVD and small miniCD. It is recommended to use the newest disks for the test.
Do not forget about other hardware problems; open the cover of the system unit and carefully check the connection of the drive and motherboard connecting cables. If there is no obvious damage, still try to connect the drive using other available cables. And for prevention, clean the drive from dust and dirt. This can be done using special disks.
There is another way to clean the read head, but this option is for more experienced and confident users. This method involves disassembling the drive and cleaning the laser with water or high-quality gasoline. Never use cologne or other alcohol-containing liquids, or acetone to clean the laser. Their use will lead to disastrous results.
Have you cleaned the drive, checked its functionality on other drives, and tried to make it work using other cables, but it still refuses to read the drives? Don't be upset. You can move on to solving possible software problems, and consider all the above actions to be preparatory.
Solutions to disk reading software problems.
If you discover that the problem is not due to hardware reasons, remember what you did with your computer earlier, what you installed, changed and deleted. Because you might have accidentally deleted or changed files that are necessary for the drive to function.
To fix it, you will need to reinstall the device drivers required for the normal and correct operation of the device on the system. Driver mismatches or errors in them can cause the drive to refuse to read discs.
In addition, you can disconnect the drive using the operating system and then reconnect it. For Windows this is done in the system properties.
My Computer window
In the window that appears, click on Device Manager.
System Properties window
The manager finds your drive and then removes it.
Removing a device
After removing the device, you must restart the computer so that the system can detect the drive again and automatically install the appropriate software, that is, drivers, for it.
Often the cause of disk drive malfunction is third-party software installed to emulate virtual drives. Such programs include: DAEMON-Tools, Alcohol 120%, etc. All these programs can cause your drive to malfunction. If you have these programs on your computer, remove them one by one, and test the drive after each removal.
To remove, you can use the CCleaner program; it not only removes programs from the computer, but also cleans the system from unnecessary files and system records remaining after software removal. The process of cleaning system entries is called cleaning the registry.
In practice, there were cases in which the solution to the problem was to flash the device. But this action can lead to complete failure of the drive. So, before taking these measures, it is highly recommended that you read the following point.
Solving the problem using the MicrosoftFixit program
Sometimes after the next reinstallation of the Windows operating system, the drive stops opening only DVDs, but CDs still open normally.
This also does not mean that the drive “died”, because before reinstallation it was functioning properly. The most important thing is that this issue is resolved using the free and effective program MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run. You can download the program from the link:
Load window
Program installation window
Troubleshooting option window
Window for selecting the device that needs to be fixed
Prompting to insert a disc
Troubleshooting Results Window
After which the media contents window will open or a dialog box will start containing several available options actions with the disk. If none of the above happens, then open the disk manually using the My Computer shortcut. Thus, the MicrosoftFixit program easily solves the problem of failure to read DVDs or CDs.
And if this doesn’t help, then you can already think about buying a new drive. For greater understanding and optimal choice new drive, it is recommended to consult with specialists.
Conclusion
After reading this article, you will have the opportunity to try to fix problems with the drive yourself, one by one, first eliminating possible hardware causes, and then software ones. Applying the methods given in this article. It must be remembered that self-correction may result in bad results, therefore, you should not neglect the help of qualified specialists.
It is difficult to store all the information on a computer hard drive. Over time, its volume runs out. If the hard drive is full, the computer works slower, because a paging file is formed on this disk, which is used to increase RAM.
So - HDD not dimensionless. In addition, if the computer breaks down, it is not easy to recover information from the hard drive. Therefore, many users burn files with movies and music onto CDs and DVDs. Many people have accumulated huge digital libraries on these media.
Laser discs often fail
But it turned out that laser discs may not exist forever. Probably everyone has experienced problems with reading data. Moreover we're talking about not necessarily about self-recorded discs. Factory stamped blanks also often fail.
What to do if the disc is unreadable? First, you can check the drive. Just insert a few other discs into the optical drive. If none of the “blanks” are readable, the equipment should be blamed. Then you will probably open the necessary information from the disk using another computer.
Your drive may be working, but its driver is not installed correctly. After reinstalling the driver, you can use the discs.
The disk has cracks
What if the drive is working and sees other disks? Then the disc is flawed. First you need to inspect the disk. Perhaps cracks, scratches, or chips have appeared on its surface. Hold the disk up to a light source and carefully inspect its surface.
Are there any visible cracks or chips on the disc? Most likely, you will have to come to terms with the loss of information. On cheap rims, radial cracks often appear, but they are not always easy to notice. If the crack comes from the working hole, the information will be damaged.
Sometimes the disk stops working even due to small cracks. If the crack affects the contents of the disc, the drive will not be able to accept the disc. If a disc appears cracked, do not insert it into the optical drive. You will no longer be able to save the necessary information. And the disk itself may well rupture inside the drive.
In this case, you will lose both the information on the disk and the drive itself.
To prevent the disc from falling apart
The use of faulty and damaged “blanks” often provokes disk rupture. How to avoid this? You should not insert discs brought from the cold into the drive. Discs with cracks should not be inserted.
Sometimes discs with labels on them rip. Their balance is disrupted. When buying a disc, try to purchase products from well-known, trusted brands.
If there is a rattling, crackling sound in the drive, better disk extract. If this does not work, you should turn off the computer's power. Then we take out the disk manually, and install the drive in place, it will be able to work.
If the disk does rupture inside the drive, the device should be removed and cleaned of small fragments. It is better to have specialists do this. But you should know that the warranty does not cover such repairs.
The disk is dirty
You examined the disk and found no cracks on its surface. But the information remains unreadable. The drive may not be able to read the disc due to dust.
How to clean the surface of a laser disc to avoid minor scratches? First, you can simply blow off the dust that has accumulated on the disk. If the disc shows no signs of life, you can clean its surface with soft optical wipes. You should wipe the mirror surface very carefully; it is better to make movements from the center to the edge.
What to do with scratches
Scratches are a common cause of damage to information on disks. The drive may refuse to read a disc if there are scratches on it. To ensure there is no mechanical damage, you should carefully inspect both sides of the disc. Scratches can be located on the optical layer, as well as on back side disk.
Many people believe that the outer side of the disc, which has a reflective coating, does not affect the recorded information. However, if this side is scratched, the drive will not be able to see your disc.
So, you found scratches on the back of the disc. If they are small and have not damaged the working layer and the contents of the disk, they can be eliminated. Try painting over minor scratches with a layer of reflective nail polish. Perhaps the disk will become accessible and you will be able to read the information you need.
Now let's consider the option when scratches damaged the optical layer. These damages can be polished using polishing paste. Not everyone succeeds in this operation right away. Therefore, practice first on another disk that is not so important to you.
There is no visible damage, but the disk does not work
You have examined the disk from all sides. There is no external damage, but the disc still does not play. Why? Sometimes the disk matrix is damaged because the number of unreadable sectors increases.
The reason for this may be the low quality of the blanks and the materials from which the product is made. The discs may have been stored in inappropriate conditions, such as cold, high humidity, or direct sunlight.
Programs used to recover information
If your drive refuses to read the disc, you can try changing some of the optical drive settings. In modern disk drives, the speed of reading information can be adjusted. Does your drive support these options? Try reading the disk at minimum speed.
There are special programs that can make reading such a problematic disc easier. The most popular of them are Nero DriveSpeed and CDSlow.
How do hardware data recovery programs work? They repeat requests many times to read information written to the damaged cluster.
If the cluster is completely damaged and cannot be read, the program replaces it with a zero value and continues working. As a result, the program will read what can be read, and will replace the remaining clusters with zeros.
If you decide to start the data recovery process, be patient. Sometimes diagnosis and recovery can take several hours. A copy of the CD/DVD file will appear on your computer's hard drive. Moreover, not only the information will be restored, but also the structure of the disk. Next, you should run a program designed for data recovery, such as CDCheck.
How to avoid information loss
We already understand that information on laser discs can be lost. How can you protect yourself when the information written to the disk is very important?
Write important information onto multiple discs. If one of the duplicates fails, you can use the other. New ones have appeared external devices for storage digital information. Use one of them.
Sometimes discs are stored incorrectly, which leads to their damage. The disc should not be exposed to sunlight, otherwise it will not last long. Laser discs should be protected from electromagnetic radiation and from dust.
It is best to put the discs in special boxes. Significant temperature changes can also shorten the life of CDs and DVDs.
Let's consider today the problem when the disk drive stopped reading disks, although it saw and read everything 5-10 minutes ago, and now refuses to work. There may be several reasons why the drive does not see the disk, mostly at the software level. This may be due to an outdated drive, driver failure, or incorrect operation of some programs.
In order to deal with the problem, you should first check the disk, inspect it to see if there are any scratches on it. If the disk is ok, then proceed to check the drive. To do this, use various CDs, DVDs, miniCDs.
It is advisable to use licensed discs to check the drive; if you do not have such, then use new recorded discs.
If the problem is not in the disks, then remember yours latest actions at computer. Remember if everything was in order, what you did, perhaps you installed new programs or deleted programs. If you actually deleted something, then you need to reinstall the drive driver.
If you installed new programs after which the drive stopped working, then you need to remove these programs.
Often the drive stops seeing discs due to programs installed for them or software designed for recording. If you have such programs, then remove them one by one and clean the registry.
If the problem has not been resolved and the drive still does not read DVDs (CDs), then you should use one of the useful and free programs. For example, this could be the MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run program, which is developed and owned by Microsoft Corporation. You can download it from our website.
Open the program and wait for it to finally load. A window will then appear where you can learn about the program and read the terms of the Microsoft License Agreement. Click accept to continue using the program.
The next window will display the installation of Microsoft Fix it tools, wait until the installation is complete. In the next window, select the required operating mode of the programs; it is better to select “Find problems and offer to select fixes for installation” - this is the second item.
The program will then scan the system to detect the drive and eventually show you the result, click on it.
Then wait for the program to scan the drive itself. Then choose which problem you want to solve. Wait until the program checks the drive and then click next.
A window should now appear asking you to insert a disc into the drive and the drive should open automatically. Insert a disc, preferably a licensed one or the latest recorded disc, and click next.
At the same time, the disk autorun window should open; if your disk does not start on its own, then try opening it through the “My Computer” tab.
A window will appear in which you should select “The problem has been resolved” and click next. In the next window, click the “Close” button to exit the program.
Home Peripherals The drive does not read discs
Like any other device, DVD drive One day it may fail and the drive will not read discs. In this article you will learn why this can happen and how to fix it. We will talk about several of the most characteristic symptoms that may puzzle many users, namely: the drive does not read only CDs or DVDs, you can hear the disk spinning for some time, but the system still does not recognize it, errors in reading recorded discs, despite the fact that discs with licensed software can be read without any problems.
Drive related reasons
There are many reasons that can lead to failure, from simple dust to wear and tear on internal parts.
You can understand that the culprit of the problem is a breakdown of the device itself if you have the following symptoms:
- If DVD discs are launched, but CDs are not accepted, or the same thing, only vice versa, then there may be a malfunction associated with the laser;
- While working with the disk, you can hear the sound of a constant increase in speed, then, on the contrary, a slowdown and at times grinding and friction. If this occurs only with one type of disc, then the lens is likely dirty or worn. But if the drive reacts this way exclusively to one single disk, then most likely there is something wrong with the disk itself;
- Discs with licensed software are read relatively normally, but recorded CDs and DVDs are practically not perceived;
- Hardware reasons can also cause problems when burning discs. For example, during recording an unplanned stop occurs, or the entire process ends completely, but the resulting disc is not readable anywhere at all. In addition, after such an error, there may be problems when trying to rewrite or erase the rewritable disk.
If you encounter exactly one of the problems described, then there is a high probability that all the reasons lie in the drive itself. Among them, the most common culprits are dust on the lens and the laser, which is about to fail.
But before making any final conclusions, please note: if the cables are poorly connected to the drive (or from the drive to the motherboard), you may encounter the same problems that have already been described. Therefore, first of all, you need to remove the cover from your system unit and make sure that all wires are securely connected.
In any case, the best solution would be to buy a new drive, especially considering their low price. Although, if the disk reader in a laptop breaks down, it is often extremely difficult to find a replacement. Here you can solve the problem by using an external drive that is connected via USB.
In a very extreme case, if you want to try to solve the problem yourself, you can disassemble the DVD drive and carefully wipe the lens with a cotton swab. Sometimes it can bring everything back to normal operation. Please note that the drive is not intended for disassembly and various cleanings, so do everything very carefully.
Software errors due to which the drive does not read discs
The problems that we describe in today's article can occur not only due to physical breakdown. You can suspect the cause of the software in the following cases:
- If you reinstalled Windows and after that the problems described above appeared;
- The drive stopped working normally after you installed a program that was somehow related to optical discs and their images, for example, the well-known ones: Alcohol 120%, Nero, Daemon Tools and the like;
- Not very often, but it also occurs when updating or installing drivers, regardless of whether you do it manually or the system installs it automatically.
To make sure that the problem lies in the software part, you can use boot disk. Set the BIOS settings to boot from optical discs and try running the Live-CD operating system. If everything works successfully, then look for the reason in your software.
What to do if it really turned out to be a software error? The first step is to try to remove the application whose operation may have led to similar consequences. If nothing happens, you can install another version of the same application. Good decision will roll back the entire OS to an earlier state when everything worked fine.
If the DVD drive stops reading discs after updating the drivers, you can do the following:
By the way, if in the same Device Manager you find installed virtual drives for working with disk images, you can safely remove them and restart your computer. Sometimes it helps.
Let's look at another method in case the drive has stopped performing its functions in Windows 7:
Operating room users windows systems XP users can try to open the device manager, find their drive and click on it, select the “Update drivers” option and click on install the driver manually. After this, you need to select a standard system driver for your drive.
Usually, one of these methods is quite enough. If nothing helps, share it in the comments to the article, and we will try to figure out the problem together.
prostocomp.net
Why doesn't the drive read discs?
With the advent of cheap flash drives on the market, disks lost their popularity. It happens that a disk drive sits for years and collects dust. And then day X came to start an important disk, but it... didn’t start.
The drive does not read discs. There can be three reasons: the disk itself, the drive or the operating system. In this article we will figure out who is to blame and how to fix it. Let's look at the simplest problems first.
So, the very first thing. Go to “my computer” and see if the drive is there at all. It is located in the “Devices with removable media” section.
There may be many virtual ones, to find out exactly where your real drive is, right-click on each one and select “eject”. The drive will open after this command.
If there is no drive here, although the button on the system unit opens it, then perhaps the power cord is connected, but the information cord is not. This happens, perhaps it has come loose and needs to be fixed, and in older computers, pay attention to the master/slave switch.
Further, the disc may be worn or scratched. Take a soft cloth and try to sand it. It doesn’t matter that it is readable in another place, there may be a powerful drive there, if yours is weaker, it won’t read it due to scratches.
We often encounter a problem when the drive only reads a certain type of disc, for example, CD/DVD-R, but does not read RW. It's the drive that's acting up, there's nothing you can do about it.
Can't read a specific disc anywhere? Try restoring it using ISO Buster or Unstoppable Copier.
The drive doesn't read discs at all. Many programs, such as Nero, Alcohol, Daemon Tools, especially hacked ones, conflict with each other. First, try unchecking the “force other programs to detect disks as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM” option in Alcohol’s settings. Delete the program data, restart your computer and see the result.
We go to the device manager. Go to “start”, on my computer click “properties”, in the upper left corner there will be “device manager”
In the “DVD and CD-ROM drives” field we delete all virtual ones; in principle, you can delete everything; after rebooting, the real drivers will be restored. In the “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” section, delete all “ATA Channel”
Reboot and look at the result.
If it doesn't help, try deeper. In the device manager, in the “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” item, double-click on each line in turn and go to the “advanced parameters” tab. In one of the items in the device properties, the “Enable DMA” checkbox will be turned on or off. We remove it, reboot, and look at the result. Or we set it the other way around if it was turned off before.
The DVD drive is manufactured for a specific region, and if it is incorrect, the discs may simply not be readable. In the device manager, in the “DVD and CD-ROM drives” item, click “properties” on your real drive and go to the “DVD Region” tab. If the current region is “not selected”, or something other than “region 5”, select from the list of countries "Russia" and click "OK". Attention! There are only 5 attempts to change the region, so get it right the first time.
If you can do it yourself, try to disassemble the drive and clean the laser eye from dust with an ear stick soaked in water or purified gasoline.
There are special discs with brushes for sale for cleaning the drive. This is another option to restore a dying disk drive.
pc-knowledge.ru
The drive has stopped reading discs - is it possible to save it? The most effective ways to resuscitate a CD/DVD drive
If you are an active computer user, then you have probably encountered the question: “why the disk drive doesn’t read discs.” Everything seems to be fine, but for some reason a problem arises. There is good news for you - you can fix possible problems yourself. And our guide will help with this.
Therefore, put off buying a new CD/DVD drive and read to the end.
Main problems
If there was a need to classify problems with reading disks, then only two points could be highlighted:
- Hardware problems
- Software problems or incompatibilities
A CD/DVD drive, like any device, can fail. But don’t be alarmed, most hardware problems can be resolved on the spot.
As for software problems, they are very easy to diagnose. Let's say you were setting up or installing new software. And after rebooting the computer, the drive refused to read all or some disks. Here, the first thing you can think about is software incompatibility.
Now that we know the main types of problems, let's look at how to deal with them.
Hardware problems
If the drive does not read discs due to technical problems, the first thing to do is replace the connecting wires. This could be a Sata cable or an IDE cable through which data is transferred. Ides are used in old computers - the technology is already outdated. They look like this:
You need to disassemble the computer. Turn off the power and disconnect all wires. Take care of grounding. Then use a tool to remove the housing cover. Now you should visually determine which cables connect the DVD drive to the motherboard. And then replace them. You probably won't have the parts you need on hand, so be prepared to make a trip to the computer store.
After the new cables are installed, reassemble the PC in reverse order, start it up and try to check disk reading. If it works, great. If not, move on to the next step.
We carry out cleaning
While the computer is running, a large amount of dust collects in its case. It accumulates on all hardware components, including the CD/DVD drive. This may cause problems. This problem occurs especially often among owners desktop computers. System unit located on the floor, in a poorly ventilated place. Laptops are less susceptible to contamination, but they also need to be cleaned periodically.
You probably already guessed that now we will clean the drive from dust. This helps restore his functionality.
The reading laser that the drive is equipped with is responsible for reading the data. And if it is contaminated, then it will perform its direct duty every other time, or will refuse to work at all.
We disassemble the computer again, this time removing the disk drive. The easiest way is to blow it out. If you have weak lungs, you will have to buy a can of compressed air in advance. They are sold in the same computer stores and are used to clean dust from equipment.
For more experienced users, we recommend a thorough cleaning. Disassemble the drive and manually wipe the laser head. In this case, use soft cotton wool, ear sticks or a suitable cloth, first moistened with water or purified gasoline.
What else can you use? There are special cleaning disks. Special brushes are installed on their surface, which clean the laser head while the disk is scrolling. Just place them in the drive and wait a couple of minutes.
Solving software problems
If you suspect that your drive has stopped seeing or reading discs due to problems with programs, think about what software you have installed recently. Most often, the problem lies in programs that allow you to create virtual drives:
- Daemon Tools
- Nero burning room
- Alcohol 120%
With their help, you can work with disk images and connect them to virtual drives. But at the same time, these programs may conflict with an existing CD/DVD drive, preventing it from working normally.
Removing these programs and then cleaning the system registry will help solve the problem. Search the Internet - there are quite a lot of utilities for garbage removal.
Driver problems
The drive for reading discs, like any device, needs to be properly installed driver. Accordingly, a driver error may cause your disks to become unreadable.
How can we solve this problem? First, go to the device manager:
Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager.
If programs for working with virtual drives have left their traces here, they should be removed. We remove all virtual drives. You also need to remove the "STPD" driver. To find it, go to the View menu and click Show hidden devices. After completing these steps, restart your computer and check the result.
It will be useful for you: We are looking for drivers for the computer. Self-search for drivers by device code
Checking the drive parameters
All we have to do is check that the parameters of our DVD drive are correct. It must be configured correctly to read discs.
We return to the device manager again. This time we are interested in the item "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers". We expand the drop-down list and see several items. Among them we need to find the one that relates to the CD/DVD drive. To do this, we open each of them one by one and go to the "tab" Extra options". If we see the inscription "Atapi CD drive", then we have found the right one. Please note that just below there will be an option "Enable DMA". You should try both options, both with DMA enabled and disabled. If the drive does not read disks in Windows 7, working with the DMA parameter can often solve the problem.
Video for the article:
Conclusion
Computer hardware has a lifespan. If problems arise, you can try to carry out independent diagnostics and repairs. If this does not help, you will have to purchase new components.
If your printer goes offline, check that its settings are correct.
Download and install the computer shutdown timer for Windows 7.
The windows clipboard helps you transfer information between programs.
Why look for information on other sites if everything is collected here?
techprofi.com
What to do if the DVD drive does not read discs
Very often there are cases when you want to watch an important event in your life recorded on a disc or start a game, but you find that the drive refuses to read it. So what to do in such a situation and find out why the drive does not read discs.
The first thing you should pay attention to is the condition of the surface of the CD/DVD disc. If there are minor abrasions and scratches on the surface, the disc may not be readable. Insert another disc with a cleaner surface and see if it is readable or not. To dispel all doubts that the problem is with optical storage media, check them on another computer. If you checked several drives and all of them were not detected, the problem is with the drive.
Damage to the disc surface
In most cases, the reason when the drive cannot read a CD or DVD lies in their problematic surface. That's where we'll start. If the CD/DVD media is very important to you, you can try restoring it. To do this, consider several ways:
Try wiping the disc gently with a dry, soft cloth. It is very important that you need to wipe across the paths, never in a circle. In this way, we clean the disk from dirt. If it is not badly scratched, this will be enough to transfer files to your computer.
If the drive still does not read it, we try to polish it. To do this, apply a polish containing wax to the scratches and rub well with a soft cloth. At least we will be able to open the disk once to extract information from it onto the computer.
Then install it on your computer special program, with which you can read a damaged disk, for example, the free utility Unstoppable Copier. When copying, this program tries to count damaged sectors several times and if it fails, skips them. Thus, you can copy from a disk to a computer, although not all the information, but most of it.
It is also possible that when DVD recording RW has failed, causing the device to not read it. Most often, this situation can arise if the recording parameters are incorrectly set in the Alcohol 120% program. Try re-recording it or using another DVD media.
Problems at the software level
If the problem is in the drive, first let's determine what is preventing the operating system from recognizing it. If the drive has stopped reading discs, but was still working yesterday, remember what programs or games you installed. The fact is that virtual disk emulator programs, such as Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%, can cause problems with the drive. Also, failures in the drive driver may occur after installing some games that also create virtual disks.
If failures occur as a result of the above programs, we remove them. Then you need to return windows to an earlier state using a system restore point.
If the drive still does not read discs, go to “Device Manager” and on the “DVD and CD-ROM drives” tab, check for the presence of virtual disks. First, on the “View” tab, you need to check the box to view hidden devices. If there are virtual drives, delete them through the pop-up menu with the right mouse button.
To update the driver, it is advisable to remove the CD/DVD drive itself from Device Manager. After restarting the computer, the operating system will automatically install it.
If the above steps do not solve the problem, in the “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” tab we look for the device that is responsible for the operation of the CD-DVD drive. To do this, right-click through properties and go to “Advanced settings”. The device type of the controller that is responsible for the drive will be marked “ATAPI CD Drive”. In this window, check the box next to “Enable DMA”.
Hardware problem
Perhaps the device does not read because after cleaning the computer, the contacts of the IDE cable or SATA cable have come loose from the motherboard or power supply. Check the connectors for tight contacts or reinstall them in another IDE/SATA slot. In rare cases, a break may occur in the cable itself as a result of bending.
If the device does not read all DVDs, the drive's laser head may have become clogged over time. Therefore, we recommend using a special cleaning disc to clean it.
Troubleshooting disk drive problems using the MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run utility
To solve problems with the drive and DVD media, you can use the MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run utility. It will automatically scan your device and fix problems.
You can download the utility to your computer from the official website by clicking on the “Run” button. During drive diagnostics, the program will ask you to insert a DVD. Make sure it is working. After testing is completed, the detected problems and the result of their elimination will be indicated.
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DVD drive does not read discs - problem solution
If your DVD drive doesn't read discs, don't rush to buy a new one! For many reasons, disk drives can begin to “stand out.” Perhaps the problem is not in the drive at all. And if the disk drive is to blame, then there are ways to bring it back to life. In this article I will tell you everything I know about this problem, and at the end of the article I will tell you how to read scratched disks!
Nature of the problem
First of all, you need to determine the nature of the malfunction. The DVD drive may not read all discs at all, or only some. Check it. If some disks are still readable, then the problem is in the hardware. I will tell you how to solve it below.
First of all, we will try to return the drive to its former agility by removing software restrictions. If the operating system malfunctions, the drive may not read anything at all. By the way, there may or may not be the same problems with recording discs.
Software solution to the problem
Remember what programs you installed recently, what games your children installed? Common cause The problems are virtual disk managers such as Alcohol 120% and Daemon Tools. Games can install virtual disks for their own needs, and they can conflict with each other. In some cases, the DVD drive does not read discs after installing the Nero disc burning program.
To make sure that this is exactly the problem, the advice is simple - demolish these programs and look at the result. But deleting may not bring results unless you roll back to an earlier state of the system when everything was still working.
If everything works, then we dig into the problem in this direction: we try other analogues, other versions, leaving only what is necessary.
In the case of “alcohol”, try unchecking the “Force other programs to detect disks as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM” checkbox in the program settings.
The second cause of the problem may be a driver glitch. To solve the problem, we need the “Device Manager”.
To access the “Device Manager”, go to “Control Panel -> System” or press the “Win + Pause” hotkeys and select “Device Manager” on the left.
After removing the above-mentioned software, virtual drives may still be present in the device manager in the “DVD and CD-ROM drives” section. Delete them via the right-click menu, reboot and look at the result.
The following is what you can do:
- Go to the View menu and select Show hidden devices
- In the device tree, find the “SPTD” driver in the “Non-plug and play device drivers” branch
- Remove the driver and reboot
This is all an inheritance from virtual disk drives.
If it doesn't help, move on. In the “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers” section, among two or four controller channels, you need to find the one to which the DVD drive is connected. These four channels can be called differently, for example “Primary IDE Channel” and “Secondary IDE Channel”, or “ATA Channel 0” and “ATA Channel 1” as in my picture. Open each one in turn and look at the “Device Type”.
