Computer Hope
Software => Computer software => Topic started by: cronohl on December 16, 2006, 12:26:28 AM
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Simple:
Shoved two cds into a cd-rw driver and now it wont burn and it wont read my cds eather.
If anyone knows the inner workings of a cd-rw driver and might know whats wrong can you give me some help
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Short:
Laser probably damaged and drive will need to be replaced. No user servicable parts.
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in order to troubleshoot the drive you must first remove the metal case around the drive, leaving the tray and laser visible. you will need to turn on your pc with the cd rom drive attached to see if the laser is working and to see if it is moving (the IDE/SATA cable does not have to be attached, only the power cable). be very careful while the comp is on. if the laser moves up and down once the cd tray has been ejected then closed (laser is attempting to read cd), then the gears are not the problem, the laser is. and as GX1_Man previously stated, it will need to be replaced.
BTW do not look directly into the laser...its not good for your eyes.
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Are u sure i should be opening up my computer i have no idea whats inside there.
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Are u sure i should be opening up my computer i have no idea whats inside there.
Open it up and find the wonderful world of the computer and have fun trying to put it back together too, takes alot of screws.
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Are u sure i should be opening up my computer i have no idea whats inside there.
No, you should not. Just replace the drive.
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if you do not know the internals of the computer, and are not comfortable disassembling and reassembling it, it would be best to follow GX1_Man's suggestion.
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Wont i have to open the computer to replace the drive?
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yes you will. but it is alot easier to simply replace the old drive with a new one rather then taking apart the old one.
to replace the drive all you have to do is unplug the power cable, unplug the IDE/SATA cable, and loosen a few screws that secure the drive.
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If im guna take it out and replace it might as well take it apart, right sence ill probly just toss it aside
btw how much is this cd drive guna set me back?
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its about $15-$30 for a cd burner.
yeah, you might as well take it apart anyways. if you can get it to work again, great, saves you about $20; if not, you get the experience on how a cd drive is assembled. :)
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A DVD burner is about $40 delivered. You can replace the existing drive in about 10 minutes.
When you get that old drive disassembled what are you going to do with it? Other than a curiosity, what is the point of that drill?
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I think ill be takeing it out like on tuseday, when i got some time.
As for taking it apart i was thinking of maybe fixing it some how. ;D
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Whatcha thank'n about fix'n it with? . . . . . . a hammer! ;D
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i prefer a shotgun. ;D
you could try following the advice i gave you earlier on troubleshooting if you want to attempt a repair.
my guess is that the gears timing is off (the gears that raise the laser to meet the cd) or the motor that makes the cd spin has been burnt out due to the excessive load placed on it by the 2 cd's.
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As for taking it apart i was thinking of maybe fixing it some how. ;D
Let us know what happens when you open the CD drive and try to "fix" it without knowing what to do. ::)
From the Smart Computing archives:
Inside The CD-ROM Drive
There are two main systems that control the function of the CD -ROM drive. The servo system handles the processing of electronic signals and information from the CD. Another system handles the communication of the computer and the CD-ROM drive for transferring data between them. Depending on the type of CD-ROM drive you have, this system will be either SCSI-based, or IDE-based. SCSI (small computer systems interface) and IDE (integrated drive electronics) are basically different sets of standards used for communication between the CD-ROM drive and the computer.
When you place a CD in the CD-ROM drive, a reader inside the drive will turn on a laser beam to find the disc. The laser beam detects a disc by the reflection of its own light off of the disc. If there's no disc, no light will be reflected.
A motor inside the drive spins the disc at varying speeds. The speed depends on the sector on the disc that's being read and where it's located in relation to the center of the disc. The disc spins fastest when the drive is accessing data from an inner sector.
Different drives spin CDs at different speeds, such as 1800rpms (revolutions per minute) or 3600rpms. The number of rpms depends on whether the drive is a single-speed, double- speed or faster drive.
While the disc is spinning, the laser assembly begins to work. The laser assembly consists of a beam of laser light that shines on the disc and an optical reader, also called a photodiode, that takes in the light reflected from the CD.
When light from the laser beam reaches the disc's surface, the manner in which the light is reflected depends on whether it hits a pit or a land. If the laser beam strikes a pit, its light is diffused, not reflected. Lands, on the other hand, directly reflect the light.
Light reflecting off the disc is directed into a photodiode, or light detector. Since light is sometimes reflected and sometimes not, the pattern results in a series of electronic signals that are either on or off. These are the 1s and 0s we talked about that make up the data on a CD. The photodiode translates the light reflections into electronic signals like those encoded on the CD so the computer can read them. Those signals go into a signal processor, which separates data from error correction codes that are also read from the disc.
From the signal processor, data is sent into a buffer that the processor uses to send data back to the computer. (A buffer is a section of memory set aside for temporary storage. Memory is where data currently in use is stored. So data from a CD that's on its way to the computer is temporarily collected in a buffer before it's actually sent.) The data sent to the computer appears on the screen. That's all it takes to get from the disc to you.
by Jennifer Larson
OK, now you know exactly what to do.
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:'(
first thax for the cd info but im sry to say i never got to it
well this is what happened. first i took off the caseing then i took out the cd driver. I began to take out the screws first the first one then when i got two the 2nd one I sriped the bolt. i got so mad i removed the whole metal case by force from there it was disastar.
at the end the cd driver was destroyed :-/
the good part was i pput my computer back and nothings broken. ;D
I think im guna go to the bestbuy and get a new cd driver, any suggestions of cd drivers. i was thinking of a cd driver that can burn cds.
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You can get a DVD burner which will read and write CD's AND DVD's for about $35 delivered. I don't know if Best Buy has a better price than www.newegg.com