The CD-ROM and DVD drive is a device that located in your computer used to play audio, music or video data on your computer. If any question arises in your mind regarding the work ability of the CD-ROM and DVD drive in your computer, you should test them.
Because by testing you may fix the problem also the testing will let you know if the problem is associated with the drive or with your PC. If your CD/DVD drive doesn’t work properly, the PC will face serious decline in terms of functionality. As a bad CD/DVD drive won’t let you install any new software or run the old/ existing one. To help you in this article you’ll be known to test a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failures.
Why does the CD-ROM and DVD drive of a computer fail?
- Harmed CD or DVD- Every storage device tends to have a limited lifespan. Water, fire, low maintenance and other factors may cause damage to the CD or DVD. If something alike happens, you won’t be able to access your data. Then you may have to take help from the professionals.
- Lack of compatibility- Sometimes your DVD may not be compatible with your DVD drive. As a result of this issue, you may face errors while inserting the CD or DVD. You may insert the same CD or DVD to another computer to check the compatibility. If you still face the same problem then you should have to go for servicing the CD/DVD or THE CD-ROM/ DVD drive.
- Dust issue- If you’re not using your CD-ROM or DVD drive for a long time then it may be covered with dust. Dust causes connection problems. Even it can influence obstruction in the normal reading process. If such a thing happens, clean your CD-ROM or DVD drive and test again.
- Hidden files- Sometimes you may not be able to find your important files when necessary because of a corrupted CD-ROM or DVD drive. You have to unhide the file if you want to get rid of such a problem.
- Damaged DVD drive- A corrupted DVD drive may hang the performance of your device.
- Faulty windows update- The regular windows update the Microsoft forces your device to have may cause an unexpected issue like after the windows update the CD-ROM and DVD drive of your computer may immediately stop working.
- Virus attack – Virus infection may trigger many issues including damaging the DVD drive. You should install an antivirus software so that such issues never occur.
Steps to test a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failure.
A dusty and dirty CD and DVD drive may cause problems while reading discs. Also you’ll not find your important files or folders when necessary. So you should check if the CD-ROM or DVD drive is physically working or not. So let’s know how to test a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failures-
- Test the CD/DVD: A bad disc drive may cause many assorted issues on your computer. At first you should check the CD/DVD, if they’re actually working. Let’s not check only one or two CDs or DVDs rather than test more than two CDs or DVDs. This way will let you know whose fault is it!
- Testing using software programs: Variety of software programs designed to check the inability of CD-ROM and DVD drive.
- CDRoller: A popular program that was invented to test and also recover data from CD/DVD.
- CDCheck: it’s also the best program to check CDs (though it’s not compatible with DVDs). If you want to recover data from a damaged disc, this program offers great service.
- CD/DVD Diagnostic: Like the other one, this program not only helps to test the CD/DVD drive but also diagnoses or recover information from a bad drive.
- Audit the power supply: What if the power supply is unable to supply enough power to your disc drive? If something like this happen, the disc drive in your computer tend to function slow or shows no function ability at all. This type of problem occurs if the disc drive can’t read the CD/DVD.
- Check Device Manager::
- Navigate the mouse to the taskbar and click on ‘Start’.
- Choose ‘Control Panel’.
- For Windows vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and other version-
- Select ‘Hardware and Sound’.
- Then click on ‘Device Manager’.
- For Windows XP and older version-
- Navigate to ‘Administration tools’ and open it.
- Double click on ‘Computer Management’.
- Now select ‘Device Manager’.
- Click on ‘+’ that situated beside the CD-ROM and DVD drive.
- In the list, try to find a CD-ROM drive where you may see yellow exclamation sign or red X. it shows the problem of your device.
- Test the cables: If you’ve recently moved or reinstalled your computer, you may experience problems with your CD-ROM or DVD drive.
After applying all the tests written above, if you find out the disc drive still cannot read CDs or DVDs then you need to replace the CD-ROM or DVD drive and bring a new one.
A legacy hardware CD-ROM and DVD drive may make you feel aged but the hardware technology is becoming spotty because of the continuous upgrade in Windows operating system. Hopefully, the tips and tricks discussed above may help you to test a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failure and also fix your problem.