My CD drive won't read any CDs or DVDs, says device is working properl

[MeganMKennedy]

Please help! I found one thread on here where someone had the same issue, and there were links to two "Fixes" ...one of them worked for the CD I inserted during the process..it showed up in iTunes in everything. When I took the CD out and tried to put it in a new one, it went back to the same thing - saying there is no disc in the drive. I tried running the fix again and this time it keeps saying not fixed. I was so excited because it looked like it worked, but no. The computer says that the drive is working properly, but obviously it isn't. HP wants to charge $60+ to fix it because it's a few months out of warranty. I am not especially tech savvy, please help!!!!!!

 

[TVeblen]

Hello MeganMKennedy. Welcome to the forum.

The most common problem is that iTunes adds an UPPERFILTERS key to your registry. Deleting that key can correct the problem if that is the case.

This solution is very common and has been suggested and done many times and is quite easy.

The following link provides 2 solutions. The first "Mr Fixit" just does the deletion automatically. If you want to check for it and delete it manually you canm use option 2.
Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

If it is not that then you can try this:
http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/en-us

Device Manager will say the device is working properly only because it is 1) recognized by the BIOS, and 2) has a working driver. This, of course, ignores the fact that the device has problems functioning. It is an annoying message to see when you are having a problem!

 

[MeganMKennedy]

I tried both. I actually tried them an hour or so ago, and it worked, but only briefly. When it prompted me to insert a disc, I did, and the drive read it. I tried to see if I showed up in iTunes, and it did. Unfortunately, as soon as I took the CD out and tried a new one (several new ones actually), I was back to square one. When I tried this process again, it won't work as it did the first time. SO frustrating!

 

[TVeblen]

You should at least peek into the Registry to see if those Upperfilters keys are present. It would not be surprising if iTunes was recreating them.

Another test is to boot into Safe Mode and then see if the Optical Drive will recognize the media there.

To get to Safe Mode: repeatedly press the F8 key as the system boots, just before the "Starting Windows" screen appears.

Also, you want to see if the drive will recognize a CD or DVD with data on it, in contrast to disks that are Programs, Games, Music CDs, or Video DVDs.