I’m a hardware newbie, can I get Help diagnosing and fixing my PC’s DVD Disc Drive?
Question by Shigeru: I’m a hardware newbie, can I get Help diagnosing and fixing my PC’s DVD Disc Drive?
As stated above, I’m something of a hardware newbie. I’m adept at software – but not really hardware. My DVD drive is having some majour issues, and I will describe the problems I am having in detail – and I would very much appreciate it if someone can help me figure out what may be wrong with the drive, and help me on how to fix it. If given proper instruction I can work with hardware, but I’m not adept enough to figure it out on my own.
If it helps, I was able to look at my PCs receipt to get the specifications of the drive:
Sony Optiarc AD-7240s ATA device 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW
Anyways, I first noticed the issue on Wednesday. I was going to watch my BTTF trilogy set on my PC, and when I tried to open the drive it did not respond. I pushed it again and nothing happened, but after about 30 seconds it very sluggishly came out. I put the disc in and went on like normal. However, about an hour and 20 minutes or so the movie froze. I just assumed it was the disc – it was an old set (2002) and had been used, so I just cleaned the disc and then used chapter select to find my place. Worked fine. However, it did the same thing with the second disc – and then the third. I found it weird that it would be the discs themselves at this point. To test it out, I put in a different DVD and let it run while I was out. When I came back to check if it had run the movie properly, I noticed it had frozen around the 1 hr 20 min mark again. I restarted the movie but didn’t use chapter skip, and just let it play while I went on with my business. Came back, it was frozen at 1 hr 20 minute in that area. I then tried the same thing on my PS3 (My only other DVD player) and it did not freeze. It’s like the drive only wants to work for that amount of time.
If I use the drive frequently, it works smoothly going in and out – but after a days time, it always has that delay where it sluggishly comes out about 40 seconds after pushing the button. It seems to read games just fine, but I have now learned it doesn’t like to copy data. I bought a copy of CrySis 2, and after taking about 20 minutes just to get to 5%, it gave me a disc read error. The disc is absolutely brand new and I tried it to install it on my laptop, and the instillation went just fine so it isn’t a defective disc. I also got a disc read error when trying to copy a music CD to my computer. When I tried burning a music disc, it seemed to work fine, however when I played the music disc back in my cars CD player as well as my PS3 – the audio didn’t sound right and some of it refused to read.
I have tried using a lens cleaning CD, and I have dusted my computer thoroughly; which is something I do regularly anyways since we live in an old crappy house full of dust. There doesn’t appear to be anything that has been spilled onto the drive or computer, which makes sense since I don’t EVER have drinks or sticky/greasy foods when using my computer but I thought it was worth making sure.
The drive isn’t very old, nor is my computer. I got it in March 2010.
Best answer:
Answer by Jordan Campbell
You have a bad drive, I found a couple other cases of other people having the same problem.
It would be more of a hassle and cost to you to have this repaired somehow than to buy a new drive.
I would recommend this ASUS drive that is on sale from Newegg.com, it is only $ 18.99 and has had much better reviews and a lower chance of failure. It has all the same capability as your old drive and uses the same connections.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
You can also pick one up at your local electronics store, they’re almost always about $ 20.00
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