# Why won't my computer read these disks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074 "2007-09-05T02:14:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/1 "2007-09-05T02:14:51Z")
The Plexor isn’t broken, since it reads disks with photos on them and disks with music on them, but it won’t read new game disks, even though the computer is more than capable of handling them. I can load old games that are already installed, but can’t install or even get the computer to see this one (FEAR), nor could I read the last one (2142). What could be the problem? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/2 "2007-09-05T02:18:05Z")
This may be an incredibly stupid question but you aren’t confusing CD’s with DVD’s are you? New games are most likely on DVD and you need a DVD drive for that. JUst asking. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/3 "2007-09-05T12:46:40Z")
You didn’t mention if you bought them and this applies only if you didn’t. A copy will run afoul of the copy protection. You may have a color problem of the medium. All colors don’t work with all cd drives. It was more of an issue on the older ones. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/4 "2007-09-05T15:19:50Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] This may be an incredibly stupid question but you aren’t confusing CD’s with DVD’s are you? New games are most likely on DVD and you need a DVD drive for that. JUst asking. [/QUOTE] Ah, crap! When did this start? Thanks for pointing out the bleedin’ obvious for me. It didn’t even occur to me that this would be a DVD. Dadburn newfangled electronical gizmos…grumble. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/5 "2007-09-05T18:43:56Z")
I like how you call it “The Plexor”, like that’s just what it’s called. I’m going to start calling my DVD drive “The Plexor”. It sounds cool. “Hey! My Plexor’s broken. I guess I’ll have to go down to the Plexor shop and get myself a new Plexor. Maybe I’ll pick up a new flux capacitor, too, while I’m there”. I know it’s actually “Plextor”, but “Plexor” sounds cooler. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/6 "2007-09-05T18:53:28Z")
I bought a Plextor, second hand but unused and still sealed in it’s box, for 1/3 of it’s retail price. It has been the most annoying drive I’ve ever had and isn’t a patch on it’s much cheaper and quieter rivals. Which does absolutely nothing toward solving the OP’s problem. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![PuddingCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@PuddingCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PuddingCat)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/7 "2007-09-05T19:02:16Z")
Looking on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) I can see that both F.E.A.R. and BattleField 2042 were released on DVD and CD-ROM, so it’s possible you have DVDs. Could you post the model number of the Plextor? It should either be on the front of the drive or you can open Windows and go Start - Settings - Control Panel. Double-click System. Click Hardware. Click Device Manager. Expand DVD/CD-ROM Drives and tell us the text which is below there. Alternatively look for the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM logos on the drive and media (see [DVD - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-ROM) and [CD-ROM - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cd-rom) for the logos). thanks, Tim ps I had a Plextor and it was lovely! ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-read-these-disks/418074/8 "2007-09-05T23:44:02Z")
Game companies are always putting new copy protection methods on their discs in a wrongheaded attempt to control piracy. The actual result is that the pirates get the game anyway, while legitimate users have to deal with the fact that some copy protected discs technically have improperly formatted data, and that older drives cannot read them.