CD/DVD reads only some disks...

[dookateh]

So i have 7 Ultimate, just built a new comp to go along with it. Now it doesnt read the motherboard an video card disks that which is not a big deal really, then i put in a video game disk (CoD4), and it read it fine...then when i took it out and later put it back in it didnt read it. I then tried putting a different disk in (L4D) which is another video game and it reads it fine over and over. Now the motherboard disk is compat with x64 vista so i assume it should work fine with 7, any suggestions?

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello there, dookateh Welcome to the Se7enforums!

That particular problem you are having there describes the dvd burner I replaced some time back right down to the last detail! One time it works the next time NO GO! Soon you may end up hearing a grinding sound at some point as well. Unfortunately it sounds like you got a bad drive to begin with there.

 

[Grimhowl]

Unfortunately, I agree with Night Hawk. If your drive is still under warranty, I suggest you send it back for a replacement.

Though before you do all that, make sure your drive is getting sufficient power and that the data cable is securely plugged in. I've seen a few (though they were old IDE drives...) that managed to back out connectors far enough with vibration that they would only work part of the time, then eventually "fail" entirely if you didn't think to check the cables. Probably not as likely a fix as getting a new drive, but it is at least worth checking.

 

[Night Hawk]

You can't that out either since you can run into a bad or loose cable at times. Often I'll order some quality cables rather then use the ones that come with a board simply those are mass produced as well.

 

[dookateh]

Im dont think its a faulty CD/DVD drive...i can put in one CD over and over and over and over, and it will read it, then put another one in and it wont read it.

 

[Grimhowl]

Small sample size sometimes throws things off. Are the discs it wont read scratched? Alternatively, are you running a weird configuration where your DVD drive is on it's side?

Also, it could be that the drive is damaged enough that it is requiring a higher level of precision from the disc to be able to read them. I had a similar problem in my old PS2 (hey, it's still a DVD drive, even if it's not a PC) where it would play some games, but not others. It was that the laser was out of alignment, and some of my older discs weren't perfectly balanced, so they wouldn't spin flatly enough for the misaligned laser to read the disc anymore, or they'd only read them sometimes.

I'm still going with faulty/damaged drive.

 

[dookateh]

The disks its not reading are brand new, i put my computer together yesterday. The disks it wont read are the motherboard and video card disks, then i put in a older disk with some scratches and it works fine, seems it only works certain disks everytime and some just not at all.

 

[Grimhowl]

What brand/model DVD drive are you using?

 

[dookateh]

Nec DVD_RW ND-3550A is what it says in my device manager...could CD/DVD drives be x32 and x64 ? If so maybe this one is only x32?

seems like this guy has the same driver as me http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/26611-dvd-rw-refuses-work.html

 

[Night Hawk]

Drives themselves are not effected by a change of OS kernel. Device drivers are what come in 32bit and 64bit depending on the edition of Windows you are running. The problems however seem to suggest a factory defect with the drive itself if all disks are working on another system.

For the board and video card software/driver disks those are generally troublefree and you wouldn't expect both to be bad while you might end up with a bad disk for one but not the other. With several disks known to work in other drives it comes right back to the drive being the problem.