DVD Woes

[Thunderkat]

I have a DVD drive on my computer that I rarely use but I just tried to use a disc that has study materials on it for my cytology class and I discovered that sometimes my drive works and sometimes it does not.

When I turn on my comp sometimes it works (good thing), sometimes the computer recognizes the drive but can't read disks (I get an error message saying the drive is not working due to and I/O error), and sometimes the computer does not even recognize the dvd drive as even being installed.

I tried updating the driver and the computer says it is the best/latest driver. I tried running the device manager to look for new hardware and the computer does not come up with anything new.

I was able to access the disc and study (also copied it to hard drive) but I had to restart my computer about 15 times. I would love for it to work everytime. I don't konw how long I have had this problem as there have been times I got the no disc inserted error in the past and just chalked it up to a bad disc.

[LoneStar]

What kind of computer is it? Retail or home built? Was the drive added after you bought the pc or did it come from the factory? Some things to check is go into the BIOS and see what if it recognizes the drive. Other than that check to see if the jumper setting on the back of the drive is set correctly (i.e. master slave cable select). Other than that, Altex and other online stores sell DVD drives fairly cheap, around $30 if your feeling frisky about changing it out. ;)

[tony]

replace it, you can get a dvd drive for $10-15 or a dvd-r drive for $30ish

[Thunderkat]

I built the computer myself, I used a jumperless motherboard (dream come true), and I checked the BIOS just now and it is my secondary master (with the primary master being a hard drive).

When I turned on the comp it started making weird loud noises so I guess it is time to jettison the drive like recommended.

[Alamo]

Might also be a bad ide cable