Computer help needed (please!)

[RosieRed]

Here's the situation. I can't play audio CDs on my computer anymore, and I cannot figure out why. DVDs play fine, and software CDs are fine. Audio CDs, I get nothing.

I have one drive, a DVD-RW/CD-RW. This is the one I have. Came with the computer, which is an HP.

I've tried every suggestion I've come across to fix this. It's nothing to do with sound (I don't think), as all sound works fine everywhere. And it would seem that since DVDs work fine, the entire drive itself isn't broken. I tried updating the driver, and also tried uninstalling/reinstalling it. Still nothing.

When I put in an audio CD, the light on the drive lights up, the CD spins, the computer thinks for a few seconds ... then nothing. If you open the drive folder, it's empty.

Anybody have any explanations or suggestions for what to do? This has been driving me crazy. It hasn't worked for about a month now, and I have about 15 CDs I've purchased in that time that I can't get onto my computer, and onto my iPod, etc.

If I need to buy a new drive, would love to hear any input on that topic as well.

Pretty pretty please, and many many thanks.

[dfs]

.....Can you rip an audio CD to something like iTunes and play it?

If so...My guess is....there is a cable from your player to your motherboard that carries only what used to be called redbook sound. That cable has become dislodged.

[registerthis]

I wonder if copy protection could be the issue here.

Can you get CDs you've already uploaded to your PC to be read?

[RosieRed]

.....Can you rip an audio CD to something like iTunes and play it?

If so...My guess is....there is a cable from your player to your motherboard that carries only what used to be called redbook sound. That cable has become dislodged.

Nope. Nothing happens when I put in the audio CD. It spins for a bit, then stops. The computer just doesn't seem to recognize it at all. I can't even get the CD to appear on the computer, let alone play it or rip it.

I've read quite a few suggestions about checking to see if cables have become dislodged, but it would seem the problem is earlier in the process than that. (Starting with computer not reading the CD.)

I wonder if copy protection could be the issue here.

Can you get CDs you've already uploaded to your PC to be read?

No, I thought about that too, but I don't think that's it. None of the many, many CDs I've tried have worked, including ones that have already been uploaded, and including ones I know don't have any crazy copy protection coding.

[Reds Fanatic]

Rosie,

I don't know what version of Windows you have but this gives some steps to try with XP and you may be able to do similar steps in other versions.

http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/windows-xp-...cd-music-/3185

[RosieRed]

Rosie,

I don't know what version of Windows you have but this gives some steps to try with XP and you may be able to do similar steps in other versions.

http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/windows-xp-...cd-music-/3185

Thanks. I've tried all but one of those suggestions (about auto play). I'll try that tonight when I get home.

[nate]

It may be that the internal audio connector has become unseated. There's usually a cable leading from the CD drive to your soundcard. Make sure both ends are firmly seated.

Also, if the CD drive has a headphone jack, stick a pair of cans in and see if the sound is coming out there.

[RosieRed]

It may be that the internal audio connector has become unseated. There's usually a cable leading from the CD drive to your soundcard. Make sure both ends are firmly seated.

Also, if the CD drive has a headphone jack, stick a pair of cans in and see if the sound is coming out there.

Would the connector coming undone cause CDs not to be read by the computer?

My sound works fine on all other applications, and on DVDs. It's not that I can't hear the CD. It's that the computer does not read the audio CDs.

I have no idea if I'm making any sense here.

[halcyon]

No, you're correct Rosie. The internal audio cable would have nothing to do with audio cds not being read properly. The problem would seem to be at the software level at first glance. Could be that your hardware (cd player) has gone kaput, I suppose, but it seems exceedingly odd that you can read data disks perfectly fine.

So when you put in an audio disk and go to My Computer, can you explore the disk? Or does it give errors?

[RosieRed]

So when you put in an audio disk and go to My Computer, can you explore the disk? Or does it give errors?

When you put in a CD and open the folder to explore it, nothing is there. It doesn't give errors, it's just empty.


This is sooooo ...

[StillFunkyB]

Rosie,

It does look like a software problem as halcyon stated. What you need to do is try a bootable CD-ROM disc, like a Windows XP install CD. Any bootable CD will be fine. If the PC will not boot from the CD, then it is indeed a hardware problem, and you will need to replace the drive. Don't worry, they aren't very expensive. Newegg.com is your friend

[dfs]

Nope. Nothing happens when I put in the audio CD. It spins for a bit, then stops. The computer just doesn't seem to recognize it at all. I can't even get the CD to appear on the computer, let alone play it or rip it.

Oh my. That's interesting.

I'll nose around a bit.

[Roy Tucker]

My in-laws bought a new Dell a few months back and its DVD drive had a similar problem, i.e. could play DVDs, could browse the Dell diagnostic CD file system but not other CDs, and wouldn't play music. I've been in the 'puter biz for a while and I thought it was really odd.

I did all regular stuff, updated the drivers, patched the OS, updated firmware, cleaned it, blah blah blah and nothing worked.

Went around and around with Dell support for a while and finally convinced them the DVD drive was bad. Dell support came out and replaced it.

Rosie, I'd just buy a new drive and be done with it. They aren't that expensive.

[TeamSelig]

I was going to make another thread, but this one should work.

I was studying on the the computer last night, when everything closed out, and restarted. I thought maybe I bumped the button, but as soon as I got back on - same thing happened.

Tried to run it in safe mode, but the computer freezes up and won't let you click it. After about an hour, I got it to work once and did a restore point, but again, same thing happened.

I've got my virus scan to run a boot scan twice now, both times finding viruses but deleting them. Did it a third time, and found nothing, but still doesnt work. Really not wanting to format it, as I have alot of info on this.

any solutions to this? I'm using XP, and avast as my anti-virus.

[RosieRed]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I've tried everything under the sun and nothing has worked, so I guess Roy is right and it's time to buy a new drive. Blah.

TeamSelig, good luck. I hope you can get it working. That sucks.