The drive does not read discs properly. Why does my DVD drive refuse to read discs? Solution. Solving software problems

CD or DVD disks and floppy drives are now less common - they have been replaced by USB flash drives. The advantage of the disk was its compact size and a large amount of stored information, while its disadvantage was its fragility. Information could be easily lost with just a few scratches on the work surface. If your drive does not read discs, this article will help you find out why, and what you need to do to fix the situation.

The drive won't read discs - why and what to do. Is it possible to fix it yourself

It is clear that the above problem occurs for two reasons:

• The device itself is defective;
• Defective disk;

And if you can assess the condition of the disk yourself, then what to do with the drive? Let's analyze all the possible options.

The drive does not read discs - let's diagnose it

Failure of a disk drive is not so uncommon, especially if it is already many years old. Basically, the reasons for a drive failure are as follows:

• Dust contaminating the lens through which the laser beam passes. You can carefully disassemble the drive and wipe it with, for example, a DRY cotton swab. Do not use solvents - the lens may tarnish and the drive will stop reading.
• The material from which the lens is made. Low-quality plastic lenses quickly become cloudy and stop transmitting the beam in the volume necessary for work. You can replace the lens only at a service center, you cannot do it yourself.
• Reducing laser power - its power will not be enough to write or read discs. For example, the drive will read CDs fine, but not respond to DVDs. Or, reading disks will proceed as usual, and errors will start to occur during writing - this is a clear sign of a decrease in power. On the Internet you can find information on how to make the adjustment, but remember this can lead to a complete failure of the drive.

Discs cannot be read - what to do with them

In general, rough handling can break or scratch the work surface. Contamination is also an enemy of the disc, but it can be removed carefully without the use of solvents. Cracks and scratches, unfortunately, speak of its complete uselessness. Replace the disc with a new one and try to handle it more carefully.

DVD drive does not read discs - solution to the problem.

If yours, do not rush to run after a new one! Disk drives for many reasons can start to "show off". The drive may not be the problem at all. And if the drive is to blame, then there are ways to bring it back to life. In this article I will tell you everything I know about this problem, and at the end of the article I will tell you how to read scratched discs!

The nature of the problem

First of all, you need to determine the nature of the malfunction. A DVD drive may not read all discs at all, or only some. Check it. If some discs are still readable, then the problem is in the hardware. I will tell you how to solve it below.

First of all, we will try to return the drive to its former agility by removing software restrictions. If the operating system malfunctions, the drive may not read anything at all. By the way, there may or may not be the same problems with recording discs.

Software solution to the problem

Remember what programs have you installed recently, what games have your children installed? A common cause of the problem is virtual disk managers such as and. Games can set virtual disks for their own needs, and they can conflict with each other. In some cases, the DVD drive will not read discs after installing a disc burning software.

To make sure that this is exactly the problem, the advice is simple - to demolish these programs and look at the result. But deleting might not work if not when everything was still working.

If everything worked, then we dig the problem in this direction: try other analogs, other versions, leaving only what is needed.

In the case of "alcohol", try unchecking the "Force other programs to define disks as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM" checkbox in the program settings.

The second cause of the problem could be a driver glitch. To solve the problem, we need a "Device Manager".

To enter the "Device Manager" go to "Control Panel -> System" or press the hotkeys "Win + Pause" and select "Device Manager" on the left.

After removing the aforementioned software, the device manager may still have virtual drives in the "DVD and CD-ROM drives" section. Delete them through the right-click menu, reboot and see the result.

The following things can be done:

• Go to the "View" menu and select "Show hidden devices"


• In the device tree, find the "SPTD" driver in the "Non-self-configurable device drivers" branch


• Remove the driver and reboot

This is all the legacy of virtual drives.

If it doesn't help, go ahead. In the section "IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers" among two or four channels of the controller, you need to find the one to which the DVD drive is connected. These four channels can be named differently, for example "Primary IDE Channel" and "Secondary IDE Channel", or "ATA Channel 0" and "ATA Channel 1" as in the picture. We open each one in turn and look at the "Device Type".

We need to find a channel with the device type "ATAPI CD-ROM" or something like that.

• We look at the checkbox "Enable DMA". We shoot if there is, or we put it if it is not.


• Reboot, look at the result


• If it works with the option disabled, then check the box again, reboot and check


• We leave the working version, but it is highly desirable that the "Enable DMA" function be enabled.

In some cases, this is the only way to get the DVD-ROM to work in Windows 7.

Another loophole to correct the brains of the drive is to change the region in the settings. To do this, open your DVD drive in the device manager and look at the current region on the "DVD Region" tab. If it says "Current region: Not selected", then do not touch anything. And if some kind of left one is selected, then we try to change it to our own. The number of attempts to change the region is only 5! If you are completely desperate, you can try changing the region from the “Not selected” state to some other one. But you can only reset it back by flashing it.

What to do if the problem is in the hardware

First of all, I advise you to replace the cable with a known working one and change the power plug to another. On this, the entire repair can end.

During operation, the DVD drive collects dust, which partially settles on the laser head. Due to the dust, the DVD drive does not read discs, or reads, but not all. It would be nice to disassemble the drive and VERY CAREFULLY clean the laser eye from dust using an ear stick slightly moistened with water or purified gasoline.

But not everyone can make out a DVD drive. In this case, special cleaning discs can help, i.e. CDs with glued brushes. When the drive tries to identify the disc, it turns it and the brushes brush dust off the laser head.

Due to excessively hard brushes, there have been cases of damage to the laser head. Brushes should be flexible and come complete with grease.

You can also blow the internals of the drive through an open chute using a can of compressed air as an option.

Sometimes updating the firmware of the drive helps. You should look for a new firmware on the manufacturer's website and strictly follow the instructions for installing it.

A dying laser is common if the DVD drive cannot read discs. Due to a laser hooked up, CDs can be poorly read, but at the same time DVDs can be read perfectly and vice versa, because each type of disc has its own laser. Probably the drive has worked its way if none of the above helps. Do not worry and buy a new one, since today they are inexpensive.

BONUS!

How to read a bad disc

When everything is fine with the drive, but there is a scratched disc that really needs to be read, then try sanding the disc with a soft cloth. Be sure to sand from the center to the edges! With this we will grind the most dangerous - longitudinal scratches, tk. they match the tracks. I once tried a special device for cleaning discs, but did not feel any benefit, better with my own hands

To read a bad disc, there are special programs, such as paid or free. Programs many times with different parameters try to read the bad sector, and if nothing happens, they simply skip it and move on. In this way, you can save everything you can. Typically, no loss is noticeable for audio and video. In the bonus video under the article, I wrote down how to read a bad disc using the Unstoppable Copier program.

Today you learned what can be done when the DVD drive does not read discs. I hope I've saved you some time searching for the right information or money to buy a new drive.

Greetings, dear readers.

Some computer users encounter a problem when the drive does not see Windows 10 disks. If you see such "symptoms" on your device, you should not immediately rush to the store for a new reading component. Such an ailment can appear as a result of various reasons. There are many ways to bring an element back to life. In the article below, I'll show you how to do this.

The first thing to start with is to determine the nature of the disease. Check if the problem only appears when reading some or all of the disks. So, if it performs its functions selectively, the drive is most likely faulty. If the situation repeats with everyone - a software failure.

How to fix it at the software level?()

What to do when your discs suddenly stopped reading? Remember what exactly has been installed on the equipment lately. It could be games or programs. Often, virtual managers such as Alcohol 120, Daemon Tools and the like are a problem. In addition, such "symptoms" appear as a result of the installation on a laptop or stationary computer of the program for recording data - Nero.

To solve the problem, you just need to uninstall the previously installed software. If that doesn't work, use the System Restore tool. I have already talked about this more than once before.

If the ailment disappears, we try to install other versions of solutions that will not interfere with the operation of the drive. And in general, it is better to remove all unused software from the device. This has many positive aspects.

Driver()

In addition, sometimes problems appear as a result of driver failure. The solution is as follows:

If the DVD drive continues to refuse to perform its functions, we make additional movements:

If this does not help, we take a few more steps:

Opening the tree “ IDE ATA ...". We are looking for the controller to which the floppy drive is connected. To do this, open each channel in turn and check " A type».

We find the option " Enable DMA”And mark it. If she was there, we shoot. We restart, and then we return it back.

Hardware failure()

Why the drive might not work at the hardware level? There are many options. The first thing to do is change the connection cable and power plug.
Alternatively, you can use a dedicated cleaning disc. It has micro brushes that will clean the laser head. But before that, make sure they are flexible.

What if my DVD-ROM won't read discs, why is this happening, and how do I fix the problem?

This question is asked by some users when they find that the media inserted into the drive is not detected by the operating system.

Then, before fixing the problem, you need to establish how it appeared?

Signs

The malfunction is nonspecific and it can be detected in a very diverse way. It is possible to understand that DVD-ROM does not read discs due to one general characteristic - you installed the medium in the drive, but it did not appear in the system. The physical varieties of this phenomenon are as follows:

• Only media of a certain format cannot be read, for example, CDs are readable, but DVDs are not. Or vice versa;
• Only media with a certain file type are not readable (it happens quite rarely, but it does occur);
• Only media with certain technical characteristics (capacity, recording type, etc.) are not readable;
• Only discs (of any or any particular format) are not readable, however, media recorded in an industrial environment work properly;
• After installation in the drive, you can hear that it is working, you can hear that the disk is spinning for a long time. But despite this, it is not determined by the system;
• Only movies cannot be played, regardless of the recording method and other files on them. Although most often we are talking about specialized discs with films bought in a store.

All types of reasons why this happens can be divided into two large groups. Hardware problems arise from the hardware side, due to its malfunction, incorrect operation, etc. Such problems are quite difficult to eliminate, especially for a beginner.

Often in this case, replacement of some components of the computer is required. To do this, especially for a beginner who does not have special skills, is not worth it yourself. It is recommended to seek professional help.

The second common reason is software. That is, when the drive does not function due to the fact that it cannot communicate with the computer, due to faulty drivers, etc. Such problems can be eliminated quite easily, and you can do it yourself.

Both the built-in and the plug-in drive may not work. Regardless of the type of device, the methods described below can help. It is worth mentioning that with plug-in drives this problem is often associated with the software, and much less often with the hardware.

Signs of a hardware problem

The device can fail for various reasons. Sometimes it is operational wear of heads or other components of the hardware, dust and other reasons. However, in these situations, it is typical to stop reading media of any type, if only one type has ceased to be read, then the matter is probably in another (with rare exceptions).

Playback side

How to diagnose the problem and roughly determine what actually happened? There are several characteristic features:

1. If the VD opens, but the CD does not start, or vice versa, then the problem is most likely in a broken or just starting to change the functionality of the laser;
2. Placing a medium into the drive, the user hears how it makes noise, the spinning speed either increases or falls, in some cases a grinding is also heard - the lens is damaged (worn out, dusty, etc.);
3. If the problem described above only occurs with one particular medium, then it is itself a malfunction, and the drive is probably fine;
4. Licensed discs are detected quite correctly, but unlicensed discs are not detected at all.

These are signs that can appear from the side of reading discs. They are not the only ones. But these are the ones that are most common.

From the recording side

A separate option is the symptoms of a drive malfunction, which are determined when writing to a storage medium. From the side of the recording, problems manifest themselves as follows:

1. The disc is not burned at all;
2. Data is written at the beginning, but then the process is interrupted;
3. The data seems to have been written, the system shows that the process is completed (sometimes too quickly), but such a medium then does not open on any other device;
4. The recording has occurred or was interrupted, but the resulting disk can no longer be formatted, cleaned, used again.

Those who often use the recording function note that in case of a hardware malfunction, problems with recording appear earlier than with playback. That is, the discs stop being written, but are still readable. This allows you to do the repairs on time.

Fixing a hardware problem

A dusty lens and a broken laser are the most common causes of this. But there is often another reason. These are incorrectly or poorly connected cables for power and data transfer SATA or IDE.

This parameter should be checked first. To do this, open the system unit and find the wires that go from the drive to the motherboard and the computer's power supply. Make sure they are plugged in securely (firmly seated in ports, free of dust and debris, etc.).

If the cables are connected properly, the problem is with the drive. Fixing it is harder than buying a new device. It is much easier to purchase a floppy drive - the price of such a component is about 1000 rubles.

In the case of laptops, you really shouldn't try to fix anything on your own. Since the drive connection system is connected there with many components. You could accidentally damage the entire device.

The way out in the case of laptops is to use a USB drive. With the installed drivers and the correct software, such a device works properly and stably.

In principle, disassembling the drive is often sufficient for repairing. And then wipe the lens with a cotton swab. It's just very difficult to do this, since these devices are selected without taking into account the fact that they will be disassembled (although in principle this can be done, there are no general algorithms).

Disassembly and cleaning optical sd dvd drive PC if it does not work well

If your computer drive does not read, does not see, freezes, reads CD DVD RW discs for a long time, or simply does not work.

Software reasons

Sometimes a driver malfunction or a system problem can cause the device to stop working properly. This cause of the problem can be easily eliminated and does not require additional fees. So, before disassembling the drive, make sure the software is not the problem.

Signs of a software problem

How do you diagnose software problems in your system? By what criteria are they determined? Such a malfunction can be assumed if the following factors are present:

1. The device stopped functioning normally after the operating system was reinstalled, or after it was updated;
2. Problems started after manual or even automatic driver updates (which happens quite rarely, but still happens);
3. Discs written specifically by a particular program, a disc of a certain format or with a certain type of data cannot be read (this can equally be a sign of a hardware or software problem);
4. Difficulties appeared immediately after installing a particular program (especially often such problems are caused by programs for working with media - Nero, Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools).

It is quite simple to diagnose the cause of the problem in this way:

1. Turn off your computer;
2. Install a bootable disk into the drive;
3. Turn on your computer;
4. Open BIOS;
5. Try booting from disk.

Accordingly, if the loading has occurred normally, then the drive is working properly (at least with this type of disks). If the download did not occur, then the problem is definitely in the hardware.

Eliminating the problem

If there is a program or update that is causing the problem, uninstall that program. And you need to do this through the Control Panel, as well as delete all its files from the system folders. Sometimes it is also advised to "clean up" its traces in the registry, but more often than not this is not required.

If you do not know exactly which program caused the problem, you can roll back the system to the point at which the drive was still working. Quite often, this is enough, and the discs begin to be read properly.

If problems arose after updating the drivers, then you can do this:

1. Hold Win + R on the keyboard to invoke the command line, Windows 10 users can simply click on the start menu and write the Command line manually;
2. A small command line window will open with an input field, write the devmgmt.msc command in it;
3. The Device Manager will start, in which you need to find the Disk drives section;
4. Expand this section and find the drive you are having trouble with in the list;
5. Click on it with the right mouse button and in the drop-down menu click on the Delete section;
6. Now select the Action button in the menu at the top and find the Update hardware configuration item;
7. After clicking on it, the operating system will find the drive again and install the necessary driver on it.

Sometimes the partition contains some kind of virtual disk drives and partitions. It is also advisable to remove them, as they may be the cause of the problem. Then restart your computer to fix the problem.

Features of Windows 7

Some specifics of the problem are observed on computers with the Windows 7 operating system. Try to do this:

1. Open the Task Manager in the way described above;
2. Go to the IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers section;
3. Items like ATA Channel 0, ATA Channel 1 should open;
4. In the right block of the menu, right-click on these items and one by one go to the Properties section;
5. In this window, go to the Advanced Settings tab;
6. In the Device type field, set Enable DMA;
7. Click Apply;
8. Reboot your computer.

The problem should now be fixed.

DVD Drive Repair

DVD player with a problem in the drive, it did not go out. Repairs were made and everything worked.

Very often the computer does not have enough memory to store all the accumulated information. As the hard disk becomes full, it becomes necessary to transfer data to other media. Flash drives are expensive, but disks, in comparison, cost a penny. But even here problems may arise, disks may suddenly stop being read by your drive. This article will tell you about the possible causes of the breakdown and help you solve the problem.

Why did the drive stop reading discs?

There can be many reasons for this, ranging from disk problems to complete failure of the drive. However, all causes can be categorized into two categories, hardware and software problems.

Hardware problems are related to hardware problems. The following problems can be classified in this category:

1. The reason may be the disc itself, its deterioration is so strong that no drive can read it.
2. The disc drive may become unresponsive to discs due to contamination. During the entire operation, a large amount of dust accumulates inside the computer, which can get into the drive and settle on the reading head.
3. Loose connecting wires will also affect the performance of the device.

These are the most common hardware problems, it is possible to determine which of this led to a failure only "surgically", that is, you need to get into the system unit.

Diagnosing software problems is much easier. If problems appeared after installing any software, then we can talk about software incompatibility.

Solutions for hardware problems of reading disks.

Is your drive not reading discs? Do not rush to throw it away and run to buy a new one. First, check the condition of the disc inserted into the drive, if it is in poor condition, then the reason may lie precisely in the damaged disc, and not the drive. Remove the disc from the drive and inspect it for scratches and abrasions.

If everything is in order with the disk, then move on. It is worth testing the drive on other different types of discs: CDs, DVDs and small miniCDs. It is recommended to use the latest discs for the test.

Do not forget about other hardware problems, open the lid of the system unit and carefully check the connection of the drive and connecting cables. If there is no obvious damage, still try to connect the drive using other available loops. And for prevention, clean the drive from dust and dirt. This can be done using special disks.

There is another way to clean the readhead, but this option is for more experienced and confident users. This method involves disassembling the drive and cleaning the laser with water or good quality gasoline. Never use cologne or other alcohol-containing liquids or acetone to clean the laser. Their use will lead to disastrous results.

Have you cleaned the drive, checked its performance on other disks and tried to make it work with the help of other loops, but it still refuses to read the disks? Don't be upset. You can move on to solving possible software problems, and consider all the above actions as preparatory.

Solutions to software problems of reading disks.

If you find that the problem is not due to hardware reasons, remember what you did with your computer before, what you installed, what changed and removed. Because you may have accidentally deleted or changed files necessary for the drive to function.

To fix it, you will need to reinstall the device drivers required for the device to function normally and correctly on the system. A driver mismatch or error can cause the drive to fail to read discs.

In addition, you can disconnect the drive using the operating system and then reconnect. For Windows, this is done in the system properties.

My Computer window

In the window that appears, click on the Device Manager item.

System Properties window

The manager searches for your drive and then deletes it.

Removing a device

After removing the device, you must reboot the computer so that the system can again detect the drive and automatically install the appropriate software for it, that is, drivers.

Often times, third-party software installed to emulate virtual drives is causing the drive to malfunction. These programs include: DAEMON-Tools, Alcohol 120%, etc. All these programs can cause your drive to malfunction. If you have these programs on your computer, uninstall them one by one, and after each uninstallation test the drive.

To uninstall, you can use the CCleaner program, it not only removes programs from the computer, but also cleans the system from unnecessary files and system records left after removing the software. The process of cleaning up system records is called cleaning the registry.

In practice, there have been cases in which the solution to the problem was in the flashing of the device. But this action can lead to complete failure of the drive. So before proceeding with these measures, it is highly recommended that you read the next paragraph.

Solving the problem by means of the MicrosoftFixit program

Sometimes, after the next reinstallation of the Windows operating system, the drive stops opening only DVD discs, while CD discs still open normally.

This also does not mean that the drive "died", because before reinstallation it functioned properly. The most important thing is that this issue is solved with the help of the free and effective program MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run. You can download the program from the link:

Troubleshooting Results Window

After that, the media content window will open, or a dialog box containing several available options for operating with the disk will launch. If none of the above happened, then open the disk manually using the My Computer shortcut. Thus, Microsoft Fixit easily solves the problem of DVD or CD reading failure.

And if this did not help, then you can already think about buying a new drive. For a better understanding and optimal selection of a new drive, it is recommended to consult with specialists.

Conclusion

After reading this article, you will have the opportunity to try to fix problems in the drive on your own, one by one, excluding possible hardware causes, and then software ones. Using the methods provided in this article. It must be remembered that self-correction may end with bad results, therefore, you should not neglect the help of qualified specialists.

Updated - 2017-03-04

Windows does not see the drive. What surprises the computer does not present to us. You go to bed and do not know if he will turn on tomorrow? or anywhere else? Previously, this also worried me constantly. The most interesting thing is that the surprises are constantly different. At one point, I suddenly discovered that the disk drive icon had disappeared in my system in the My Computer folder. Windows just doesn't see the drive. What to do? First you need to check the drive itself.

The drive tray itself comes out and the discs are accepted, which means that the problem is either:

1. in a train
2. in the drive,
3. in the drive controller.

Most likely, the reason is in the drive itself. But it doesn't hurt to check.

If before that the drive worked fine, then we will try to do it.

If for some reason it is impossible to restore the system, then we check if our drive is visible in the BIOS.

If the drive is not detected in the BIOS, then we check the loop (cable) that connects the drive to the motherboard. If possible, we replace it with a known working one.

I checked the floppy drive with a working cable, but it still cannot be detected. Then we try to connect the floppy drive to another computer to determine its performance.

If the drive is working, then we enter the " Device Manager» ( Start - Settings - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager) ... We check at the bottom on the tab “ Are common"In the window" Application of devices »Whether the device itself is turned on. If it is off, then turn it on through the same window (just select the entry “ This device is in use (included) ».

Let's see if the record contains “ DVD and CD-ROM drives »Our floppy drive. And is there an exclamation mark on a yellow background in front of the entry.

If there is an exclamation mark next to the drive, then we try to remove the drive driver (double-click on the name of the drive, select the " Driver"And press the button" Delete"). We reboot the computer.

After rebooting, the system should detect the drive itself and load the driver.

If the floppy drive and the ribbon cable are working properly, then this should help, and if not, then most likely it will be necessary.

Let's try to boot any bootable disk, having previously installed the boot from the CD-drive in the BIOS. If the boot occurs and the disk opens, and Windows still does not see the drive, then we have a problem with the operating system. Here it is already necessary to first check the system for viruses, and then delve into.

Consider today the problem when the drive stopped reading discs, although it saw and read everything 5-10 minutes ago, and now it refuses to work. There may be several reasons why the drive does not see the disk, mostly at the software level. This may be due to an outdated drive, driver failure or incorrect operation of some programs.

In order to deal with the problem, you should first check the disc, inspect it for any scratches. If the drive is ok, then proceed to check the drive. To do this, use various CDs, DVDs, miniCDs.

It is advisable to use licensed discs to check the drive, if you do not have such, then use new burned discs.

If the problem is not in the disks, then remember your last actions at the computer. Remember if everything was okay, what you did, perhaps you installed new programs or uninstalled programs. If you did uninstall something, then you need to reinstall the floppy driver.

If you installed new programs after which the drive stopped working, then you need to remove these programs.

Often the drive stops seeing discs because of the programs installed for them or software designed for recording. If you have such programs, then remove them one by one and clean the registry.

If the problem has not been resolved, and the drive still does not read dvd discs (cd discs), then you should use one of the useful and free programs. For example, it might be MicrosoftFixit.dvd.Run, which is developed and owned by Microsoft Corporation. You can download it from our website.

Open the program and wait for it to finish loading. Then a window will appear in which you can learn about the program and familiarize yourself with the terms of the Microsoft license agreement. Click accept to continue using the program.

The next window will display the Microsoft Fix it Tools installation, wait for the installation to complete. In the next window, select the required mode of operation of the programs, it is better to select "Find problems and offer to select fixes to install" - this is the second item.

Then the program will scan the system to find the drive and eventually show you the result, click on it.

Then wait for the program to scan the drive itself. Then choose which problem you want to solve. Wait until the program checks the drive and then click next.

Now a window should appear in which the program will ask you to insert a disc in the drive and the drive should automatically open. Insert a disc, preferably a licensed or as much as possible new burned disc and click next.

At the same time, the autorun disk window should start, if your disk does not start on its own, then try opening it through the My Computer tab.

A window will appear in which you should select "The problem is fixed" and click on. In the next window, click the "Close" button to close the program.

Many users face the problem when the drive does not read disks installed in it... You shouldn't immediately throw out the drive and run to the store to buy a new one. After all, there are many reasons for this, and many of them can be eliminated with your own hands without replacing the drive.

The main reasons why discs cannot be read

Problems of this nature can be divided into hardware and software.

Floppy drive software problems

Software problems can arise from operating system errors or conflicts with other programs. Conflict situations can arise, as a rule, after installing virtual drives in the system. If the drive has stopped working after installing programs such as Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools, the error is most likely in the software conflict.

To solve this problem, uninstall the program and roll back the system using a restore point. How to roll back the system to Windows in the video below:

If the recovery system has not been enabled, then you should pay attention to the presence of any virtual drives in the device manager. If any are found, then you need to delete them.

In addition to conflicts, the problem may be associated with a "flown" or incorrectly configured driver. You can check this in the device manager mentioned above. The DVD and CD-ROM Drives section must contain the drive installed on the system. The "Device status" window of the drive properties should contain the line "The device is operating normally". And now the same thing in pictures, only for the example of a hard disk:

Otherwise, you need to reinstall the driver. If the unreadable disc is a video disc, the problem might be with the DVD region. In this case, the correct region must be selected in the properties of the drive. IMPORTANT! It should be borne in mind that only 5 changes in the region are possible. Moreover, the counter cannot be reset either by reinstalling the system, or by moving the drive to another PC.

If the DVD cannot be read most likely, there is an incompatibility of the drive with this disc. This refers, as a rule, to cheap discs of dubious quality.

Hardware reasons due to which the drive does not read disks on a laptop or PC

• Hardware issues include failure of a drive or disk... First of all, if it is impossible to read the disc, you should make sure that there are no scratches or cracks on its surface. It is worth noting that with such damage, full or partial data recovery is possible using specialized software.
• One of the possible reasons may be contamination of the laser drive head... It is best to use special cleaning discs to clean it. The best cleaning liquid is the one that comes with the disc. The use of other liquids such as acetone or alcohol may permanently damage the laser head.
• A fairly probable cause of a drive failure could be damage to loops, both supplying and transmitting data. To eliminate this problem, it is worth replacing the cables with others. This must be done with the computer turned off so that the voltage surge resulting from the switching does not damage the motherboard or the PC power supply.

Video on how you can fix software problems with the floppy drive:

And what to do if the drive does not read disks on Windows 8:

User question

Hello.

Help with one problem. My drive cannot see the DVD (at all). When I insert a disc, it starts to make noise, crunches a little, the computer freezes, and that's it. After a couple of minutes - everything ends, if you do not try again to see what is on the disk.

The disc itself was recorded on another drive, and it is readable on it ...

Arkady.

Good day!

Oh, 10 years ago this problem was much more popular ... I agree with many users that CD / DVD drives are being used less and less recently (and, probably, have outlived their usefulness). However, sometimes there is an urgent need for them, for example, when you need to read a disc with old documents (which cannot be found on the network), start a game from a licensed disc with protection, install Windows when the USB ports do not see the USB flash drive at close range, etc.

To be honest, to be honest, I myself have not transferred my DVD collection to an external HDD (although I have been trying to do it for a long time). In this article I will discuss what you can do to solve this "invisibility" problem ...

What can you do if your CD / DVD drive cannot see your CD / DVD drive

Understand the specifics of the problem

Before that, I recommend taking several discs: CD-R, DVD-R, DVD + R, DVD-RW, etc. (both self-recorded and purchased in stores). Then insert them one by one into the DVD drive and try to read information from them.

If you have a writeable floppy drive - also try to write information on a couple of disks.

The essence of this action: Find out the nature of the problem, determine if the problem is with one specific disc, or with a specific type of disc (say, a drive can see CDs but not DVDs). I think before spending money on a new drive (which will not always solve the problem), it is much wiser to spend half an hour on "debriefing" ...

For visibility problems with many discs

As I said above, the drive can either not see DVDs, or CDs, or none at all. All reasons for the invisibility of disks can be divided into two types (it is easier to deal with them this way):

1. either the drive itself (the laser in it) has fallen into disrepair, the loop has come off, the socket is backlash, etc. the problem is hardware related;
2. or the problem is with the software.

How to determine if there is a hardware problem:

If the problem is hardware

2) Most often, the problem lies in the dirt and dust that got on the laser and now it cannot read information from the disk. To clean it, you can try various special cleaning discs and liquids.

For example, there are discs with brushes, when such a disc spins in the drive, the brush brushes off the dust, which has a beneficial effect on the operation of the drive.

3) You can also clean the drive by manually disassembling it and blowing it out, for example, using a can of compressed air. However, not every drive can be disassembled, and it is not so simple.

You can try simply opening the tray and blowing the drive through it with a spray can. Very rare, but it helps.

4) What about repairs - now, as far as I know, no one repairs such drives (unprofitable). In case of breakdowns, they are simply replaced with new ones. If you yourself do not know how to replace the drive (or which one to buy instead) - pay attention to external devices - they can be connected to a regular USB port without any problems.

5) By the way, now there are very cheap external DVD drives on sale (both recorders and readers). They can help out great when suddenly you need to work with the CD / DVD format.

External USB 3.0 DVD-RW drive

If the problem is software

1) Removing (disabling) interfering programs

To begin with, I recommend that you remember (pay attention) when the problem appeared, after which program was installed. Most often, the problem is associated with programs for emulating CD / DVD drives (these are programs such as Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, Nero, Ultra ISO, Clone CD, etc.).

Sometimes, some antiviruses can block reading of disks, assuming that there are threats (and until the disk is fully scanned, you will not be allowed to read it!). For example, Panda Titanium used to be famous for this when setting the maximum protection level.

Tip: remove the software that creates the virtual drive while testing the DVD drive. Also, disable (or uninstall) your antivirus.

2) Try to roll back the system (if there are restore points)

3) Try to update / replace drivers

Often the problem is with the drivers. To reinstall the current driver, go to device Manager (press the combination of buttons Win + Pause, in the menu on the left you will see a link to the dispatcher) , and expand the "DVD Drives ..." tab. Find your device in this tab and delete it.

Typically, this simple method will restore the drive to normal operation.

By the way, pay attention to the "IDE ATA / ATAPI controllers" tab: there are several ATA Chanel in it. Open up properties of each ATA Chanel and check if the DMA... If not somewhere, check the box and save the settings.

4) Reinstall Windows OS

It also happens that no tricks can help restore Windows: some system files may be corrupted, something deleted, infected, etc. In some cases, rather than finding the reasons and a solution to what is wrong with the system, it is much faster to reinstall it ...

When a specific disk is invisible

As a rule, such unreadable discs are already pretty much scratched. When inserting them, it is not uncommon for the computer to freeze trying to read information from them. An example of one of these discs is shown in the photo below.

1) Try using a different CD / DVD drive

If you really need information from a medium, the first thing I recommend is to use another drive (preferably DVD-RW, since recording drives have more sensitive information reading). Often, when one drive does not see the disk, while the other is able to read all the data from it.

If the disc is readable on an excellent drive, immediately make a copy from this disc. Because it may become so that the next time you will not read it ...

2) Try to gently wipe the disc (there are special tools for this on sale). Thanks to such wiping, you can "smooth out" some of the scratches and the readability of the disc will slightly increase.

3) Use special programs to read bad discs (for example, Bad copy or Unstoppable copier). They will try to read the unresponsive section (sector) several times, and in the worst case, they will simply "clog" it with zero (and will not freeze, like Windows).

If we are dealing with video, music, pictures, then most likely, you will simply have a "mute" second in the video or part of the picture will be lost. Not as bad as losing all the information. If there are archives of programs, games on the disk, then the consequences are the most sad, such "zeros" sections will not allow you to install these applications (ie, in fact, they will be damaged!).

One final tip ...

Well, and the last thing I would like to note: now on the network you can find the absolute majority of files (whether old games or movies, some programs, etc.) that you might want to read from an "invisible" disk.

And if we are not talking about something unique and specific, perhaps it is worth spending a few minutes searching for information on the Internet than repairing and "dancing" around a DVD drive? Most likely, you will be able to find files even in the best quality!

That's all I wanted to say.

All the best!