subject: Common Cd And Dvd Problems [print this page] Many of today's optical drives (CD/DVD) have become very much affordable and are much faster than those that were sold two years ago. The price has dropped dramatically but the speed and has increased on the contrary. Despite this great improvement on optical drive technology, some things remain the same - the same errors encountered. Not much of any optical drives' architecture and organization have changed. This is why the same errors are still encountered. So, what are the common CD/DVD drive errors and how do we fix them? Here are a few.
1. Trouble playing media files. We often use our optical drives to play our favorite songs or movies. In many instances, this is done with a laptop because of its portability. However, there are times when we encounter some difficulties in playing the media files. In movies for example, some scenes are skipped, and some are fast forwarded. Some music also won't play at all even if we have tested it before.
2. Installation software won't run. The era of diskettes has passed. All installers are now packaged either in CD/DVD or are bundled with a flash drive. This is because of the amount of space and speed that these drives can offer. However, there are also times when the installers just won't work. Sometimes, the CD/DVD is not detected and sometimes, the files are not shown when you open the disc.
3. You cannot see the CD/DVD drive icon in your computer. In some other instances, the CD/DVD drive icon is not shown when we try to explore our computer. The main hard drive can be seen but other optical drives are not, which can be very frustrating especially when we need to play something or install a software.
To resolve the enumerated problems, there are some troubleshooting techniques that can be very helpful.
1. Clean the drive. This can be a solution to the first two problems mentioned above. Sometimes, the lens of the optical drive accumulates dust and sometimes become foggy. A simple cleaning can often solve the problem.
2. Check the drive settings. When you cannot play software or it doesn't automatically launch when you insert the disc, there might be a problem with the drive settings. You can check it at the device manager and inspect the autoplay property if it is enabled.
3. Use driver update software. This can definitely solve all the three mentioned above. Usually, optical drive problems are caused by incorrect driver or outdated driver. Use a driver update software so that it automatically detects whether you have a defective driver, and downloads the correct driver and installs it accordingly.
With the abovementioned solutions, you should be able to address issues with your CD/DVD drive easily. If the issues are not resolved, then there might be a problem with the device itself.
