Despite how vague everything in this thread is, that is actually a good idea. Assuming XP or later, buy, borrow, or steal, a simple USB CD-drive and try that instead. If it works, then that narrows down the issue to the drive. If it doesn't then it is probably a disk or file system problem.
After over a year, I managed to figure out the problem.
Turns out the fault was the CD-ROM drive itself.
I tried to insert some discs in a different computer (with a different drive)
and it worked so the culprit was my drive.
I still wonder why it doesn't work now. It worked before.
Well it ain't a big problem considering there wasn't anything too much interesting
in these discs. But thank you everyone for the help anyway.
@Windows99SE said:
... so the culprit was my drive.
I still wonder why it doesn't work now. It worked before.
One day a drive dies. For CD drives it is VERY common, as they rely on very delicate mechanics. Now, that we have access to a palette of CD-drives made in a window of 20years+, we can see that even the expensive and high quality drives suffer from the same problems. It is not only the crappy ones.
In a lof cases it is possible to fix the drive.
Very common failures are:
dirty lens above the laser
grease on the rails and cogs gets hard
micro-switches got dirty / hard to push - the mechanics doesn't push hard enough
cogs are worn out
There's dirt between the LED and the receiver of the light barriers
It is not so difficult to search for these failures and you can't break what's already broken. It is worth a try.
Use alcohol and a cotton swab (a drop of water also does the job, but alcohol is better) to clean the lens - even if it looks clean, maybe not visible for the eye, but for the laser.
Also clean the LEDs and receivers of the light barriers
The grease has to be greasy, if you touch it with your finger it needs to be like skin cream, not like sand or small stones or something in between.
Some hard grease gets greasy again when mixing with a drop of oil. Some must be taken off (toilet paper) and you can use white grease for mechanics (very cheap in every tool-store).
Push all the buttons and switches, maybe you already feel if one is broken or just blocked. If blocked by dirt you can try washing it out with alcohol (flood it with alcohol, start with a drop, try pushing, another drop, ...)
Some CD drives are tricky to open, if you have problems just google for "open cd drive", there will be a lot of pictures and even videos.
But thank you everyone for the help anyway.
It is always good not leave a topic without a final report, after such a long time it is very uncommon. Thanks for the report!
Use alcohol and a cotton swab (a drop of water also does the job, but alcohol is better) to clean the lens - even if it looks clean, maybe not visible for the eye, but for the laser.
I put alcohol on a bit of cotton ball since I didn't have a cotton swab and I tried
cleaned the drive with it (including the lens), did a restart on my computer
and tried it, but unfortunately nothing happened.
I would do the other methods but I can't since I would have to disassemble it for that,
and I don't have the right specific screwdriver for it.
Unfortunately I am gonna call it quits for now. There could be more methods for it to get it to work however I think I am done. Testing the discs on a different computer is the way for me.
Does the drive spin up when you insert a disc? If it doesn't, that means the spindle for the disc itself has gone bad or dirty contacts. I had a Mitsumi Double-Speed CD-ROM drive that never worked (granted, it was used) and a Creative Labs CR-563-B CD-ROM drive that wouldn't open, but I fixed it by replacing the eject mechanism motor from a broken CD-ROM drive.
Hmmm... I still do not want to give up, maybe software can help?
CD Reading software? CD software? I tried some software but some of them worked (maybe), so can you find some software for me to try?
Comments
After over a year, I managed to figure out the problem.
Turns out the fault was the CD-ROM drive itself.
I tried to insert some discs in a different computer (with a different drive)
and it worked so the culprit was my drive.
I still wonder why it doesn't work now. It worked before.
Well it ain't a big problem considering there wasn't anything too much interesting
in these discs. But thank you everyone for the help anyway.
One day a drive dies. For CD drives it is VERY common, as they rely on very delicate mechanics. Now, that we have access to a palette of CD-drives made in a window of 20years+, we can see that even the expensive and high quality drives suffer from the same problems. It is not only the crappy ones.
In a lof cases it is possible to fix the drive.
Very common failures are:
It is not so difficult to search for these failures and you can't break what's already broken. It is worth a try.
Use alcohol and a cotton swab (a drop of water also does the job, but alcohol is better) to clean the lens - even if it looks clean, maybe not visible for the eye, but for the laser.
Also clean the LEDs and receivers of the light barriers
The grease has to be greasy, if you touch it with your finger it needs to be like skin cream, not like sand or small stones or something in between.
Some hard grease gets greasy again when mixing with a drop of oil. Some must be taken off (toilet paper) and you can use white grease for mechanics (very cheap in every tool-store).
Push all the buttons and switches, maybe you already feel if one is broken or just blocked. If blocked by dirt you can try washing it out with alcohol (flood it with alcohol, start with a drop, try pushing, another drop, ...)
Some CD drives are tricky to open, if you have problems just google for "open cd drive", there will be a lot of pictures and even videos.
It is always good not leave a topic without a final report, after such a long time it is very uncommon. Thanks for the report!
Thank you sdose for the suggestions because
my dumbass didn't realize I could google the problems
and figure it out easier but oh well.
I tried this method,
I put alcohol on a bit of cotton ball since I didn't have a cotton swab and I tried
cleaned the drive with it (including the lens), did a restart on my computer
and tried it, but unfortunately nothing happened.
I would do the other methods but I can't since I would have to disassemble it for that,
and I don't have the right specific screwdriver for it.
Unfortunately I am gonna call it quits for now. There could be more methods for it to get it to work however I think I am done. Testing the discs on a different computer is the way for me.
Does the drive spin up when you insert a disc? If it doesn't, that means the spindle for the disc itself has gone bad or dirty contacts. I had a Mitsumi Double-Speed CD-ROM drive that never worked (granted, it was used) and a Creative Labs CR-563-B CD-ROM drive that wouldn't open, but I fixed it by replacing the eject mechanism motor from a broken CD-ROM drive.
Well yes it does.
For something different, I recorded an audio file of the drive and the sounds it makes,
It does this sound when I put in a disc every time, tell me if there is something wrong with it.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/486583888613998592/538358698054123550/cd.mp3
Hmmm... I still do not want to give up, maybe software can help?
CD Reading software? CD software? I tried some software but some of them worked (maybe), so can you find some software for me to try?
I am gonna try to find some software of my own and see if they can help.
Well unfortunately, it is over. Plus I have looked at all of my CDs in a different computer so the CD-ROM thing is done...