OT: CD drive died! Help please!

[Renegade 13]

OK, I was hoping someone here could help me with a nagging problem I have. Last night, my CD-RW drive just decided to die on me it seems...however there is no obvious reason for it to have done so, and it was working just a couple hours previously. Here's what I did in the time between when I know the drive was working and when it wasn't:

-Removed the CD from the drive, which WAS working (Warcraft 3)
-Began downloading a patch from Blizzard for the Warcraft 3 expansion, the Frozen Throne. Patch version was 1.14.
-Left for a while, my dad was playing a couple simple card games (no possible effect there), and my sister was typing an assignment for university (again, something that's been done dozens of times.)
-Returned, installed the patch.
-Placed Warcraft 3 expansion CD in the drive, nothing happens.

Now, the symptoms go like this:

The drive will open and close just fine, so its power supply is fine. CD enters the drive, the busy light on the drive flashes slowly for a few seconds, then proceeds to flash very rapidly until the CD is eventually removed. However, the CD will not spin up to speed at all, and when I try to do anything requiring a CD, the computer tells me I need to put the CD in the drive.

I've tried several CD's, all of which are working and all of which received the same error.

The CD drive is a Sony CD-RW CRX215E5

I will try updating the drivers for it after I return from school. Any help anyone could supply would be immensely appreciated!

[Spoo]

Have you restarted the computer since the symptoms began?

[Captain Kwok]

It sounds like a physical problem with the drive. You could try using a cleaning kit to see if it's just a dirt sort of problem...

[Thermodyne]

Can You hear thr drive head seeking? Sounds like a faint zipp-zipp-zipp.

Not much you can do other than uninstall it and reinstall from scratch. Most of the base micro code is flashed into the drive itself. Sudden death syndrome is a problem with cdrw drives.

If you play games that read from the CD for hours on end, then you should use a pure reader (cd drive) and save the burner for writing cd's. Readers are cheap <$15 bucks. So you can afford to have one die now and again.

[boran_blok]

Imho if you dont hear spinning up the motor either died or is jammed.

[ToddT]

I would agree verify if Drv is spinnig up i've had a cd player die simply besause motor ceased operating, and cdrom that died the same way. its most like the speed controller for the motort that went capute. Th cdrom genrated no error messages when motor died, problem only should up when i tried access a cd. it would spit disc out after a short period.

[Renegade 13]

Have you restarted the computer since the symptoms began?


3 times.


It sounds like a physical problem with the drive. You could try using a cleaning kit to see if it's just a dirt sort of problem...


I'm going to try to get in there and do whatever cleaning I can, just in case it is merely a dirt problem. I do live near a really dusty dirt road, the drive becoming clogged with dust is a very real possibility.


Can You hear thr drive head seeking? Sounds like a faint zipp-zipp-zipp.

Not much you can do other than uninstall it and reinstall from scratch. Most of the base micro code is flashed into the drive itself. Sudden death syndrome is a problem with cdrw drives.

If you play games that read from the CD for hours on end, then you should use a pure reader (cd drive) and save the burner for writing cd's. Readers are cheap <$15 bucks. So you can afford to have one die now and again.


I can't hear the drive seeking, I only hear a few faint noises, none of which I'd describe as a zipp-zipp-zipp. I hadn't known that CD-RW drives were prone to sudden death...good to know.


Imho if you dont hear spinning up the motor either died or is jammed.


Will see if it's jammed, since no spinning occurs.


I would agree verify if Drv is spinnig up i've had a cd player die simply besause motor ceased operating, and cdrom that died the same way. its most like the speed controller for the motort that went capute.


Well, everyone seems agreed. Problem with either jammed or fried motor. Looks like I'm headed for buying a new drive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Thanks everyone, if you have any further suggestions please share them!

[Renegade 13]

Well, dust/dirt isn't the problem. Cracked open the drive, was sparkling clean, no problems. No obvious damage either, though any existing damage probably wouldn't be obvious! New drive, here we come.

[boran_blok]

If you're going to buy a new one anyways, at least crack open the old one, tinker a bit inside and try to fix it. (if it doesnt fix it, it doesnt matter anyways)

[Randallw]

Same thing happened to me at a LAN party. CD Drive was dead. Just installed a new one.

[Glyn]

The scan laser LED will sometimes fail. The drive will open / close, but fails when it check to see if a disk is loaded. When it check to see if a disk is loaded the scan head will try to focus on the disk surface, but if the light is out it won’t ever find it.
If you check the manufacture site tech support, you might find some trouble shooting commands to send the drive to confirm.

Usually cheaper to replace the whole drive then fix.

[Renegade 13]

I cracked open the old drive, messed around a little bit, but I couldn't seem to find any obvious issues, and nothing I did helped it out.

I also downloaded a small program from the manufacturers website, it checked both read and write capability. Neither were functioning, and I don't have the expertise to mount a serious effort to repair, so I think buying a new drive will be the most efficient thing to do.

Thanks everyone for your input so far!

[Thermodyne]

Renegade 13 said:
I cracked open the old drive, messed around a little bit, but I couldn't seem to find any obvious issues, and nothing I did helped it out.

I also downloaded a small program from the manufacturers website, it checked both read and write capability. Neither were functioning, and I don't have the expertise to mount a serious effort to repair, so I think buying a new drive will be the most efficient thing to do.

Thanks everyone for your input so far!



Spend $15 more and get a CD reader to go with it. You might need a dual drive ide cable too. Its worth the money just for the speed it will give you when making cd copies.

[Renegade 13]

Thanks for the advice Thermodyne, I'll do that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[bearclaw]

okay, now.

Apparently, since R13 originally posted his troubles, now my CD-RW/DVD combo drive on my laptop is do the EXACT same thing!!!

I drove through the town R13 lives in last week... I think it's spreading. Unfortunatly, in my laptop it's not quite as simple a repair http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif but I'm heading to a computer store today to look at the options.

[Renegade 13]

I'm sorry! Didn't think it was contagious!

[Kamog]

Uh-oh, I live in B.C., too. Let me check if the CD drive is still working...

Yup, the affliction has not yet spread to Vancouver.

[Renegade 13]

I'll have to start passing out a vaccine...before the plague overwhelms the entire worlds, and CD drives start crapping out randomly!

[Captain Kwok]

My wife's Laptop CD-RW/DVD went crazy a couple of weeks ago and will only read audio CD's and nothing else!!!

[geoschmo]

I had to replace the CD drive on my laptop a few months ago. It was a little scarey at first, but it turned out to be not too bad at all. Of course, your laptop will be different. The hardest part was finding a diagram that showed where all the relevant screws were. Laptops aren't as standard as desktops. If you've been inside one desktop you can find your way around pretty much any of them. My laptop wasn't any more difficult then a desktop, but it wasn't something that could be easily figured out without a diagram.