# Dead CD-R Drive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006 "2002-12-20T13:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/1 "2002-12-20T13:27:32Z")
My CD-RW drive has ceased to function. It is a Philips CDD3610 and it no longer recognises when a CD (whether a recordable one or a data one) has been placed therein. Anyone got any idea what’s wrong with it? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/2 "2002-12-20T13:39:07Z")
Does the light on the front of the drive illuminate when a disk is inserted? Do you hear the disc spin up? How old is the unit? Did it just stop working spontaneously, or is it following the installation of some other hardware/software/other system configuration changes? ---
**Author:** ![merge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9f8e36/32.png) [@merge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/3 "2002-12-20T14:17:42Z")
I had this problem with XP once… I don’t know why… but I could only use 1 CD per restart… strange… I would put one in, it would work, I would put another one in and it would not work until I restarted… strange… I reinstalled XP… actually reformatted the drive, because I wanted to go with NTFS instead of FAT32, and it has worked ever since. I know it is dumb, but have you tried restarting? and as manageout said… does the disk spin? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/4 "2002-12-20T16:22:50Z")
first ,they get dirty, use a cd lens cleaner…just about any of them should work including those sold in music stores. second, cd drives are dirt cheap today, try [techbargains.com](http://techbargains.com) forum for some deals. Some are like $29 for a 40x cdrw drive. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/5 "2002-12-20T16:42:05Z")
The light lights up on the front when the CD drawer closes, but it does it whether there’s a CD in the drawer or not. I can’t hear it spin though, and when I click on the drive in Windows Explorer it says ‘The drive is not ready: Retry or Abort’. Yeah, I’ve tried restarting and changing the drive letter. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/6 "2002-12-20T16:42:58Z")
Do you have a Dell? My friend had this problem with a Dell running Win98 and I tried getting help from their tech support, we did some reinstalling of various things, which didn’t work, and then I was told to reinstall the OS (which royally sucked cuz I couldn’t back anything up!) I don’t think I ended up reinstalling. Instead I called them and said I’d reinstalled and it didn’t work, so they eventually sent her a new one. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/7 "2002-12-20T16:44:51Z")
No it’s a Gateway (P350, running win98). It’s worked for 2 years until now. ---
**Author:** ![rookie523](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/8 "2002-12-20T16:52:37Z")
it could be the brand of CD-r media you are using. I know that my old 4x burner failed to read sony cdrs. i could burn on them… but it would never read again… it would just spin constantly… basically i have to end task the explorer. try out other cds, game cds… non burned cds. also… are all the connections ok in the pc? ---
**Author:** ![Hauky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/9 "2002-12-20T17:13:34Z")
I’m sure you’ve done this, but I have to say it anyway: Have you tried putting in a disc (regular, plain ol’ from-the-store disc, not a CD-R or anything) and then restarting without taking it out? If that doesn’t work and it’s not spinning up at all, I’d say it’s a very dead drive. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/10 "2002-12-20T17:19:57Z")
Yeah I tried that (I think I did say in the OP I’d tried normal CDs It doesn’t read those either. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/11 "2002-12-20T17:25:39Z")
Okay, I assume you can see the drive from XP, just can’t read any discs with it. So first thing to do is to make sure the cable is tightly plugged. If that doesn’t work, clean the r/w head. ---
**Author:** ![merge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9f8e36/32.png) [@merge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/12 "2002-12-20T18:37:30Z")
Try this… I know it is crazy… but it worked for me once… turn off the computer, unplug the connections… reconnect the IDE cable… and connect a different power cable than the one you had in… preferably one on its own line… give that a try… ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/13 "2002-12-20T18:45:41Z")
I had a wonky CD-R which we replaced. We tried doing it on our own, with little success, so we paid a technical person to install one. It lasted a while, then got wonky again. I get the same error message you do. I am loath to replace this one in case this is just going to repeat itself. However, it seems excessive to get a new computer just because one stupid cheap component won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-cd-r-drive/144006/14 "2002-12-20T23:21:48Z")
Couple of things to try: Boot into safe mode (hold down F8) as the system starts up. or Boot from a floppy (with CD rom support). and see if it works.