CD player often doesn't recognize data CDs

[Cameron Fitzhugh]

My CD-R/RW drive recognizes music CDs and blank CDs without any problem, but
when I put in a data CD, it often says there's no CD in the drive.
Sometimes it takes several tries, ejecting the CD and reloading it, before
the CD drive recognizes the CD. When I first got the computer, this never
happened, but it is happening more and more often. I can burn music and
data CDs without any problem, but then it may take several tries before it
recognizes its own data CDs (the same problem occurs with software CDs I
have bought). I know the CDs are good because I can load them into the CD
drive on my other computer, and it has no problem reading them.

I've just been trying out several software CDs that I have bought, or that
came with my Dell system. I think maybe it is having difficulty reading CDs
written on CD-R blanks. The CDs that came with my Dell appear to be
manufacturer-created CDs, and I think they are written using a different
burning technology. I have some other software CDs that look like the
vendor wrote them on CD-R blanks, and my CD drive has trouble reading them.
(Even so, it has no problem reading music CDs that I have written on CD-R
blanks.)

This is a Dell Dimension 2400 with a Samsung SW-252S. It uses the standard
CD device driver included with XP. I have downloaded and installed the
latest firmware upgrade from Samsung, but it didn't make any difference.

Is my CD drive dying, or is there something I can do to get it recognize
data CDs more reliably, in particular data CDs written on CD-R blanks?

Thanks,
Cameron

 

[V Green]

My CD-R/RW drive recognizes music CDs and blank CDs without any problem, but
when I put in a data CD, it often says there's no CD in the drive.
Sometimes it takes several tries, ejecting the CD and reloading it, before
the CD drive recognizes the CD. When I first got the computer, this never
happened, but it is happening more and more often. I can burn music and
data CDs without any problem, but then it may take several tries before it
recognizes its own data CDs (the same problem occurs with software CDs I
have bought). I know the CDs are good because I can load them into the CD
drive on my other computer, and it has no problem reading them.

I've just been trying out several software CDs that I have bought, or that
came with my Dell system. I think maybe it is having difficulty reading CDs
written on CD-R blanks. The CDs that came with my Dell appear to be
manufacturer-created CDs, and I think they are written using a different
burning technology. I have some other software CDs that look like the
vendor wrote them on CD-R blanks, and my CD drive has trouble reading them.
(Even so, it has no problem reading music CDs that I have written on CD-R
blanks.)

This is a Dell Dimension 2400 with a Samsung SW-252S. It uses the standard
CD device driver included with XP. I have downloaded and installed the
latest firmware upgrade from Samsung, but it didn't make any difference.

Is my CD drive dying,

Probably. They have become yet another disposable poorly-built
piece of equipment to be thrown out after a year or two of use in
this ridiculous throwaway world we live in.

Before you scrap it, try cleaning the laser lens. You can get a device to
do
this at computer stores.

If this doesn't work, and you have to replace it, please make sure
it winds up in the inbound stream of your local metals recovery/
"computer recycling" outfit (see the Yellow Pages or Google) rather
than the landfill.

 

[Kenny]

As well as cleaning the lens look and see if there's a firmware update
available for your CDR/RW.