why does my laptop play dvd cleaner but not cd

davebresnan

Estimable
Mar 29, 2014
2
0
4,510
I have a Compaq CQ57 running Windows 7. Until 2 weeks ago it would rip a CD in about 2-4 minutes. Now it won't rip at all, and says there were errors which it doesn't define. I have looked on many forums (Windows, HP, etc., etc.) and they all give similar advice - in device manager switch channels from PIO to DMA (which option doesn't appear - AMD SATA Controller), or uninstall/reinstall drivers (made no difference), or uninstall/reinstall WMP (made no difference), or maybe a dirty lens. So, I bought and used a lens cleaner. The strange is that when it ran the cleaning disc and all the video and sound was perfect BUT it still won't rip a CD and when a CD is played the sound is appalling. As the cleaning disc ran with no problems would I be right in thinking that the drive is OK and the problem lies somewhere else?
Thanks for any help or advice.


UPDATE:
Following up on the reply from Jarotech I used a can of compressed air to give the whole drive a clean and, at the moment, my ODD is now working as it should.
 
Solution
Hi, with the tests you did, I think the ODD itself is defective. To read a DVD or a CD the lens focus is at a different depth, maybe the ODD circuitry is stuck at the depth for a DVD, and cannot read a CD properly.

mbarnes86

Distinguished
Sep 16, 2010
245
0
19,110
Hi

With DVD players about the only easy way of distinguishing a hardware fault from a device driver or corrupt registry problem is to boot off a bootable CD and or DVD disk
(depending if problem relatesd to CD or DVD or both)

(examples Windows XP CD, Windows Vista or latter DVD, Anti Virus CD, Live Linux CD such as Kaspersky Rescue CD ....)

If the bootable disk boots up to desktop in a modern PC then it is likely the hardware is working as far as reading the optical disk.
[A seperate test for writing may also be needed .]

regards
Mike Barnes
i
 

davebresnan

Estimable
Mar 29, 2014
2
0
4,510


Hi Jarotech, thanks for the info, it seems as though that was the problem. I blew out the drive using a can of compressed air (and a couple of gentle taps!) and at the moment it is working as before (oddly though I have 1 CD that still won't play properly or rip on the laptop but does everything it should on my desktop). Thanks again.

Regards
Dave