[SOLVED]Have my CD Drives died?

[steamdigger]

I have both a DVD ROM and DVD RW internal drives on my PC. Recently the DVD ROM drive started to play the first track only of a CD. It will however read and run a Linux live CD. My DVD RW drive has refused to to play audio files, CD with pictures and movies and to burn discs.
I have tried multiple times cleaning the CD lense on both drives with no change in the situation. My question is are my drives in terminal decline or is there something further I can do to rescue the situation?

Thank you for any help you can offer

steamdigger

[Animal]

Have you checked these discs in another machine?

What is the condition of these discs? scratched at all, smudges?

Are they factory discs or burned on another burner? and if so at what speed?

Is the media a different brand form the one that works? Type of CD/DVD media?

I have had this issue crop up from time to time with varying factors.

[steamdigger]

Hi Animal

I have checked the the audio CD's one the CD player in the car and work OK

The cd's are in good condition, no scratches or smudges. The video/pictures were burnt previously , probably at max speed - not knowing any better. It has been read previously and can still be read in the DVD ROM drive. The iso's are either ones that I have previously burnt or those from magazine covers. I currently have only one brand of CD-R - Memorex and this has worked fine previously.

Regards

steamdigger

[T6]

how old are those drives?

what kernel are you using, did you changed it recently?

are those drives ide on the same ide cable?

[steamdigger]

Super Villain

the drives are new with the PC and are just 4 1/2 years old
the current kernel according to synaptic is 2.6.32.12-pclos1.bfs and has not been updated since i installed PCLOS from cd approximately 6 months ago

not sure about the cable but the were working fine upto approximately 1 month ago.

I have been round this before which is why I asked the question are my cd drives dieing?

Cheers

steamdigger

[T6]

after 3 years i call a drive old

being this old i would replace cables because it is probable that it uses ide cable and this cables lately are so low quality... 

if both are sata forget this step but sometimes a replacement doesn't hurt

how do you clean lens?  with a cd cleaning system or do you open the drives to do a real clean procedure, directly on the lens of both drives?

what brand are both drives?  i had a sony drive that basically dissolved itself and couldn't read cds and dvds didn't worked properly until died completely

[steamdigger]

T6

both drives are sony

i clean them using a cleaning system.

looks  like I may have to get ready to get a new pc!

cheers

steamdigger

[T6]

clean a cd drive is easy and fun, a learning experience

it is the first thing i would do, open the drive and do a direct clean over the lens, using cotton and a very small amount of alcohol, there is many videos explaining how to do it, there was another post i did some months ago but maybe it doesn't exist anymore

if this procedure doesn't help, replace the ide cables could help alot

also check if the ide drives are set as master and slave respectively, this will be written over the drive itself, you will probably need to remove them to look properly at this, one should be master and the other slave, the one set as master goes in the last connector if the ide cable, the slave in the second and the other side of the cable in the motherboard, verify that all connectors are completely inserted in the sockets

as i mentioned, no idea why but sony drives are the some of the worst options around, lately their quality has improved because in 2005-2008...   

if the drives are just saying bye, you don't need a new pc, only replace one of the drives with a new dvd burner, as easy as connect two cables and put 4 screws

lots of users recommend samsung and lg(lg i use, always) but the most recommended is lite-on and plextor drives

i wouldn't get a bluray drive, linux doesn't support it yet, only windows and ps3 works really with it, that includes osx, not working yet there neither

another option is go for external drives, depending on the usage, you could be a good candidate to use external drives, if you are like me and use very rarely cds and dvds it is a good option, i have a lg external drive and works well to install livecds and other os too

i only connect it when i need it and that is maybe each month or two, my pc usage is not oriented to media content stored on cd or dvd discs but that is my small world, each one decides what is best for his requirements

[steamdigger]

T6

new drives installed. Not exhausted all the options yet. However here are the current results. DVD RW  now reads music files and CD's with and iso burned to it. Later will check further what other files formats can be read and will check to see that it can burn files.

So good so far...

Now to the DVD ROM. This drive will still only read the first track of a music CD. It will read a CD with an iso burnt to it.

I shall now retire to bed as I have been working all night.

Do you have any further suggestion as to why the DVD ROM is being so problematical?

Regards

[T6]

the dvd rom drive, does it fail with different cds or only with a particular brand?

the drive could require a firmware upgrade, i had a similar problem with another drive but in this case the drive is not new and i recently have seen many drives simply dying without use

this is why i am moving away from optical devices and using more and more usb devices

[steamdigger]

T6

have tried the DVD rom drive with music cd's from a variety of sources - not read. tried a data cd with pdf's not read. it will a cd with photographs. that is the limit of my types of cd. the dvd rom is selected as the master and the dvd r/w is the slave. both drives are brand new.

am i missing something obvious?

steamdigger

[T6]

if you changed the ide cable i can't think on anymore in the hardware section giving problems or helping

on the os side, there is new kernels in synaptic, worth testing a new version

[Was_Just19]

I have both a DVD ROM and DVD RW internal drives on my PC. Recently the DVD ROM drive started to play the first track only of a CD. It will however read and run a Linux live CD. My DVD RW drive has refused to to play audio files, CD with pictures and movies and to burn discs.
I have tried multiple times cleaning the CD lense on both drives with no change in the situation. My question is are my drives in terminal decline or is there something further I can do to rescue the situation?

Thank you for any help you can offer

steamdigger

Could I suggest that you boot the PC with a liveCD in the first drive and then see if you can use the problem media.
Then repeat the operation in reverse.

That should determine if there is something the matter with the install.

You should also create a new user on your install, log into that new user and test the the problem media there.
Your problems MAY just be account related ........

regards.

[Dragynn]

after 3 years i call a drive old

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but the newest CD/DVD drive I have is 3 years old, the secondary in my 5 year old machine is a 7 year old IDE and is what this liveCD is running on right now that i'm typing this on. The oldest cd drive I have, is a Sony mobile unit from an old car stereo circa 1994, and it's been sitting playing music on my workbench for 15 years now. I listen to music all day long. Every day.

Calling a three year old drive "old" is an opinion, and they are all valid I reckon....but subjective nevertheless, your mileage may vary as they say....

[longtom]

after 3 years i call a drive old

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but the newest CD/DVD drive I have is 3 years old, the secondary in my 5 year old machine is a 7 year old IDE and is what this liveCD is running on right now that i'm typing this on. The oldest cd drive I have, is a Sony mobile unit from an old car stereo circa 1994, and it's been sitting playing music on my workbench for 15 years now. I listen to music all day long. Every day.

Calling a three year old drive "old" is an opinion, and they are all valid I reckon....but subjective nevertheless, your mileage may vary as they say....

I agree.  It seems sometimes inconceivable to some that one doesn't replace ones hardware at least every 2 years - a lot of people can simply not afford it, others don't see the need for it.

My cd and dvd drives are 8 and 4 years old respectively.  Here at my work a lot of 5 years and older computers go about their daily work - some of them with an additional stick of ram to help them along.  Otherwise they just get serviced every now and again.

But then some people believe you must not drive a car older than 2 years - I never owned a new one and the newest car I ever bought was 6 years old ... indeed a matter of opinion.