For a while, I just told the kids that the CD-Rom was going out. For some reason, it was getting harder and harder for the drive to read pc games. It has no problem reading home made disks. But today, all day long, I have tried to play Sims 2 pets, and it wont do anything. The light just stays on, and it makes a sound as if it is trying to read the disk but cant. I put another game disk in and it does the same thing. But if I put in a picture cd, it'll read that.
Do I need to replace the drive? and if I do, how much would one cost? Remeber, I want to play the sims 2 and my son has the battlefield game; So it has to be fast enough for these games.
2007-03-07 07:49:50 · 8 answers · asked by summer 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
More than likely the drive's laser is going bad, and you might as well replace the CD drive with a DVD/CD combo drive if you're going to go with a replacement. You can find many at reasonable prices at newegg.com , and below is a page on their site for those types of drives. Good luck, and hope this helps.
2007-03-07 08:08:29 · answer #1 · answered by Jolly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
summer,
You may just need to clean the optical drive with a wal-mart disc cleaning kit, they run about five or six bucks. Try this to see if it helps, it doesn't make sense to buy a new drive for dozen of dollars when a couple of dollars will fix it, If you know the make and model of the drive, go to driverguide and register for the account, it's free, and they have downloads for ALL peripherals and such.. You may be able to update the firmware of the optical drive. Also make sure when handling Cd's, that the data side is never handled with fingers and make sure to keep them in a sleeve of some sort to prevent scratching. Also one more thing, they have what's called virtual drives, which is an application that can install a virtual drive onto your computer, where you can put the entire CD onto this drive Permanently, and play from the hard drive instead of the CD, this plays them alot better, faster, and without burning the optical drive up after a period of time.. Good Luck to You AND Happy Gaming
2007-03-07 08:05:49 · answer #2 · answered by Devil Dog 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like the Laser has been shifted.
There are more layers on some Game discs, and less on most Home CDs. If the angle is not just right, then it will have problems or fail.
It is cheaper to replace the drive than to have it fixed
2007-03-07 07:54:04 · answer #3 · answered by Mictlan_KISS 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It'd be easiest to just replace it. A basic CD-ROM drive, if you can find one, is probably going to cost $20 at most.
2007-03-07 07:56:10 · answer #4 · answered by substance_of_desire 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The lenses get dirty and out of focus. Spend $40 for a new CD/DVD.
2007-03-07 09:21:26 · answer #5 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try cleaning it. You can purchase a kit fairly cheap at a department store.
2007-03-07 07:54:40 · answer #6 · answered by Christian93 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could also be an outdated driver. Check with your manufacturers to see if there are any updates.
2007-03-07 07:59:23 · answer #7 · answered by Freddie D 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Or, maybe, the discs are scratched !
2007-03-07 08:16:54 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋