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CD-ROM and DVD drives tend to get dirty and dusty inside. This causes problems with reading discs correctly. It may skip or jump around or even get stuck while playing a movie or song. Suppose, you’re trying to play your favorite game or read data from the disc, it may show an error in Windows which your disc can’t read. People often take CD-ROM and DVD discs for granted, they think these things are pretty indestructible and will last forever. Unfortunately it’s not true, with a maximum life span the discs can be degraded overtime. You may also face similar problems like a burning disc that can be done by yourself and also a poor quality media cannot handle if the data tends to burn so quickly. In all these cases, the CD/DVD disc can be cleaned in many ways. However, in this article you will learn how to ways of testing a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failure.

Signs your CD-ROM and DVD drive are going to fail.

Don’t ignore the smallest sign of a functioning problem in your disc drive. Let’s know the signs of your CD-ROM and DVD drive going to fail.

  1. In today’s world everything seems to be digitized so the modern storage drives are manufactured with the highest tolerance. The modern hard disc drive do itswork with zero noise. So if you notice low-pitched noises which are getting louder day by day. It’s a sign of a damaging drive.
  2. Your drive may seem to be working perfectly well but at the same time you’re hearing loud clicks or buzzing sounds. If that’s the case then the storage disc may continuously spin up and down.
  3. The noisy drive may cause you data loss as the disc will fail overtime. So another sign of a failed CD-ROM and DVD drive- loss of important data out of nowhere. Your important files or documents seem to be missing very often. A block of data may cause such a problem.
  4. It’s easy to detect the screaming of your hard drive. But it’s hard to notice if the driver chooses to die in silence. You may see the overall performance of your computer suddenly slowed down. CPUs, RAM and GPUs should not be doubted as they’re less likely to be slowed down over time so does cooling fans and others. Because of the malfunctioning CD/DVD drive, computer performance may hamper.

How to test a computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failures?

In your computer, in case the CD-ROM and DVD drive is not working properly then performing the following tests may help you fix the problem. Now let’s go through the tests-

  1. Testing with another CD: You should test the drive with more than one CD as it’s possible that the problem is with the CD, not the drive. If more than two or all CDs fail to work then unfortunately your CD-ROM or DVD drive unable to perform it’s duty. Now the drive needs to be cleaned or do the other tests.
  2. Checking drive manager:
    • For Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 , Windows 10 or any later version-
      1. Navigate to the control panel and open it.
      2. Look for ‘System Icon’ and double click on it.
      3. Find the ‘Device Manager’ that is situated on the left side of the system window in your computer.
      4. Now verify the marks like any exclamation signs with yellow marks or red marks. ( if there’s no marks then do the other tests)
      5. But if you find any of these marks then highlight the marks and press the delete keys so that you can remove the CD-ROM from your computer.
      6. Perform a reboot on your computer.
      7. Then reinstall the drive.
    • For windows XP or any early version of windows-
      1. Navigate to the control panel and open it.
      2. Look for ‘Hardware Tab’ and double click on it.
      3. Click on the ‘Device Manager’ option.
      4. Now verify the marks like any exclamation signs with yellow marks or red marks. ( if there’s no marks then do the other tests)
      5. But if you find any of these marks then highlight the marks and press the uytrew
      6. Perform a reboot on your computer.
      7. Then reinstall the drive.
    • The drive-related problem might be solved now. But if it’s not the device manager, go for the next test.
  3. Check drive’s cable: A loose drive’s cable may also cause such problems regarding a not working CD-ROM or DVD drive. It’s also possible that you’ve connected the cables to the wrong port. If you’ve done so, replace it with the right one. But if it’s not the case, do the other one.
  4. Corrupted windows: Test the CD-ROM in safe mode. While testing it you discover it works perfectly in safe mode but doesn’t work in normal Windows than the drive is fine otherwise the drive is corrupted. To do so-
  • Go to ‘Device Manager’.
  • Press the delete key and remove the CD-ROM.
  • Perform a reboot. Windows tend to detect the CD-ROM.
  • Reinstall it.

If you’ve tried all these tests and still fail to find the problems and encounter errors, there’s a high chance your CD-ROM and DVD drive need to be replaced.
The testing methods discussed above about how you can test your computer CD-ROM and DVD drive for failures are more likely to solve your problem. Though these testing methods proved effective in most of the cases, if it couldn’t help you then you should bring a good CD-ROM and DVD drive.