My DVD drive is not recognizing DVDs

[agnibho]

Well, this is really bad. I have an ASUS DVD player and it gave really great service for about 5 years. But lately, it's behaving oddly. It can recognize some DVDs while it can't play some others! The green light on the drive goes on blinking and then eventually it goes off. The drivers are all right. I disconnected the drive and then connected it again but the problem persists. Is there any solution to this?? Maybe the disk reader has gone berserk. But why is it playing certain DVDs but not some others?

 

[adjacent]

Either your DVD drive has died or your DVDs are broken.
Maybe its playing DVDs with no scratches? Can you check it?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yeah check the DVDs for scratches. You could also blow some compressed air in the unit to get rid of some dust. Is this a for TV or PC? Either way DVD players are on the cheap and can be replaced for $40 these days.

 

[AlephZero]

Over the years I have found that CD and DVD drives are the least reliable components in personal computers. Getting 5 years out of one is about average.

Don't waste your time trying to fix it. Just buy the cheapest replacement you can find.

There are several different recording formats for DVDs, e.g. dual layer recording of data to double the storage capacity. blu-ray, etc. If your drive is starting to fail, it's possible it can still read some formats but not others.

 

[agnibho]

I think AlephZero is about right. No, my DVDs are not broken and they don't have any scratches, at least they are not visible. I really think my drive is failing. Meh!

 

[agnibho]

And Greg, it's for my PC. The dvd drive is an ASUS one and I did not use it quite very often...but still, this is quite frustrating, you know?? :P

 

[enorbet]

You've probably already replaced it and that's not an altogether bad idea, but it troubles me that the situation is not binary ie - all read or all don't read. Is there any detectable pattern to those that do and those that don't? For example does it read most commercial media but balk at some you've burned yourself?

 

[agnibho]

Umm not exactly enorbet. I have thought of that as well. For example I played a DVD that came with a reputed tech magazine and it played well. But two weeks later when again I tried playing it, the player didn't run it! That was absurd. At first I thought of increasing the RAM, but I guessed that won't solve the problem, because, the player played the DVD again successfully after a few days!
This is really strange, I tell you. That is why I didn't change the drive immediately.

 

[agnibho]

It plays most but sometime later doesn't play those that it had played a few days earlier! :P

 

[adjacent]

It plays most but sometime later doesn't play those that it had played a few days earlier! :P

It's broken. Don't keep it in your PC, it may damage other parts.

 

[AlephZero]

Don't keep it in your PC, it may damage other parts.

That's very unlikely. Don't remove it until you get a replacement. Leaving a hole in the PC case could mess up the internal cooling airflow and cause more problems!

As a footnote on the reliablitiy of DVD drives in general, I was recently looking at the website of a company that builds specialist Windows compatible computers for high end applications (not just for gaming, also for professional music production, video editing, etc). Their "standard" specifications usually included two DVD drives not one, so "when one of the drives fails, you won't have any down time waiting for the replacement to arrive". Note the word "when" not "if". All their systems come with an unconditional 5-year guarantee, so I guess they don't expect DVD drives to last that long! (And if you are paying something like $5000 for a seriously high end PC, you probably aren't interested in saving $10 by shopping around for the cheapest DVD drive you can find.)

 

[enorbet]

Intermittent problems are the worst, in that they are responsible for more hair loss than any other kind of problem. Make no mistake though, unless you suspect some dust bunnies blowing around in there, it is for any serious purpose, broken and in need of replacement. Don't worry too much about how you replace it. It is highly unlikely leaving it in until you get a new one can create new problems. Computers are remarkably well compartmentalized and well protected. Cascade failures almost never occur. Additionally it is an extremely rare company that gives more than a passing glance at cooling in my experience. Yes, it is possible that removing the drive now may cause some component to receive less airflow but just as likely to increase it. Still, the safe bet is keep it as it is until you have a replacement. Even big brand names like Plextor are now quite cheap.

 

[adjacent]

Oh. But I got a problem in my PC when I had a broken sound card.

 

[enorbet]

@adjacent - I don't want us to hijack this man's thread but it does appear it is basically solved. Your situation, however, needs considerable clarification if anyone is to comment. All I can say at this point is that a large part of diagnosing electronics problems (absent billowing smoke) is narrowing down the field and this is best served by going with the odds. Certain circuits and components are more likely to fail than others. There can be exceptions but it is more often than not safer to "bet with the House".

I can't tell if you're implying your sound card problem cascaded, causing other failures, or even how you know it was first in line, if this was the case.

 

[B0b-A]

Maybe try a "DVD lens cleaner" : it's a disc with tiny brushes about the size of false-eyelashes which clean the lens of the DVD player , (they cost about £5), e.g.