Solved DVD seeking randomly

[yankleber]

Hi,

Since some time ago the LG DVD of my computer started to seek randomly repeatedly times. Very annoying. At first I thought that it could be a bad contact in the connectors so I unplugged and plugged it again either in the MB as in the device for data and power cables. I really don't think that the cables are bad.

However the problem persisted and the last time it happened I opened the tray to force it to stop seeking because the sound was irritating me. Then it auto-closed the tray weirdly (in small steps) and after then it just stopped to work completely. Then it didn't work again until I power computer off, remove the device cables and reinsert them.

Maybe it's the cables? Has someone experienced such weird behavior?



EDIT: Other than that the drive works normally when I - rarely - need it.

 

[Ranger4]

Does this random repeat occur when playing music tracks, if so what program do you use to play the music tracks. Most programs such as Windows Music Player have a repeat function, so check whether you have that selected.

If the DVD player works perfectly as other times is seems that the problem lies elsewhere.

 

[yankleber]

I rarely use this drive. I remember to have played a music CD on it exactly 1 month ago though. However I didn't use this plague called Windows Player (I don't use it for years, instead I use Foobar). Anyway It may have showed the 'seek behavior' around a dozen times since then. It's really weird. I am starting to suspect of a broken power connector (either at PS female side or drive male side) causing the drive to reinitialize every time the power goes off and then back on...

 

[yankleber]

By the way, the random seek happens with the drive empty (no disc inside).

 

[Ranger4]

If suddenly start with no disc in it then there is certainly a problem. It could be the power lead to it or the whole drive has a problem

 

[yankleber]

It's always without any disc inside.

 

[Ranger4]

It might be is a program that is trying to access the DVD drive. Check your installed programs to see if there could be one that might randomly access that drive.

 

[yankleber]

I figured out that the DVD drive sometimes is not being recognized. This morning when I turned on my PC the drive was completely dead: not showing up in the drives tree and neither responding to the tray button.

Not even powering computer off and then on solved. So I powered it off and removed/reinserted the data and power cable; then on so the drive came back to life again. I am suspecting that it is a cabling issue OR drive connectors.

 

[yankleber]

OK, problem solved. I checked constantly the drive while gently swinging the PS harness and suddenly I noticed that the drive stopped to work and then came back every time I messed with a particular segment of one of the power cables. I suspect that the cable could be "sparkling" and causing the drive to turn off so it was seeking whenever it turned back on.

Anyway, it was an easy fix that I only needed to remove the segment and plug one of the other idle connectors do the drive. Problem gone!

Here it is a picture of the culprit...

 

[Ranger4]

Well done, glad to hear you have found the problem. Thanks for getting back & letting us know.