Most drives will display the readable types on the tray flap it can also be viewed from the manufacturer.ĭisc drives use lasers to read disc data as 1s and 0s based on the amount light that’s reflected back to the optical system. Make sure that your drive is compatible with the disc you are trying to read.

Check for compatibility – Most CD drives can play recordable(R) and rewritable(RW) discs.Try swapping out the disc to make sure that it wasn’t a hardware issue. Swap out the disc – if cleaning fails, your disc might be far too damaged to allow it to play properly.If the disc is dirty, you can try cleaning it with filter water and a clean cloth or better yet, a specialized disc cleaning solution and cloth can be purchased in most electronic stores. Clean your discs – Grime and dirt can make it hard for the drive laser to read small groves located on your disc.

Try reconnecting your cables and swap out for different ones if available.Ī bad disc can’t be played, no matter how hard you try. CD Cables may be loose – if you’re using an external CD Drive, cables might have worked themselves loose.If using a slot-load disc drive, which will have no tray, simply eject the disc and reinsert to determine if it was a seating issue. Inspect your tray for any bending, and try reseating the disc. The disc tray may be damaged – A CD drive uses internal optics to read data from the disc, so it’s important that your CD is properly aligned.A quick inspection should rule out any drive issues. The CD Drive Hardware may be malfunctioning.

CD Drive components are fine-tuned and may read your disc incorrectly if the hardware, lens, or CD is damaged. When a CD drive or DVD drive won’t work, you might try checking the hardware and disc first. The following guide works best for Windows 10 users, but most steps can easily be adapted to Windows 8, and 7 users. Driver Support/ knowledgebase/ Fix a CD Drive That Won’t ReadĪ range of software and hardware issues can make it difficult or impossible for your CD drive to read a disc properly.

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