My computer won't read any kind of disc?!?

Question

When I put any disc (Written or blank) into my CD ROM, my computer tells me to insert a disc when it's alrdy in there! Can you tell me why and how to fix it?

Answer 1

Please mark my answer as the best if you feel it is so:
I boot my computer with one of the tested discs and ensure that the system tries to boot from it. Make sure your BIOS is set to try and boot from your CD or DVD ROM drive first. At least hit the correct key to bring up a boot menu to choose which drive to boot from. If your system doesn't try to boot from that disc then try another disc. If it does read the disc(s) in DOS mode; and since you already mentioned that Windows doesn't read the discs correctly, then you have a Windows-related challenge. If it still doesn't try to boot from that disc then you probably have a drive challenge. It only takes a few seconds to remove the cover to a system, locate the cables going to that drive, remove them and connect a different drive. If a different drive works, that is a given answer that your original drive is inoperable for any number of reasons, but a cleaning kit is half the price of a new drive. Your most reasonable choice of drives for cost would be a DVDRW drive. Whether you have one drive or two in your system, you should read the settings on the back of your original drive(s) and make the new drive match your original drive. This whole process is simple for most people but if you feel that you want a local computer shop to do the work for you then a CDRW drive shouldn't cost more than $35 and a DVDRW drive shouldn't cost more than $49. Labor shouldn't be more than $35. It only takes 10 minutes for a tech to do the work.

Answer 2

What kind of CD? Data? Music? Program?

First, see if the CD/ROM is working o.k.
To open Device Manager, click Start,
point to Settings,
and then click Control Panel.
Double-click System.
On the Hardware tab,
click Device Manager.
Right-cl the item to be checked and select Properties.

You should be told whether or not the item is working properly. You can also update the driver from here.

If you are trying to read a data disk, you have to use CD/RWs and the CD has to be formatted by the software that powers your CD/ROM before you can store and retrieve data to and from it.

Answer 3

This may be a driver problem. Check windows update and use the custom download instead of express. Check the updates on the left hand column to see if there are any for the hardware. If not, contact the computer manufacturer or the disk drive manufacturer for recommendations or warranty refunds.

Answer 4

is this a new drive or one that used to read them before, you could have lost your drivers for your cd drive or it could be just to old! if you have an extra drive try to swap them out, also try an cd not burned by you in other words if you have a game put its original cd in the drive and see if it works, if not then your drive might be toast!