Troubleshooting CD and DVD Drives

Symptom	Possible solution
The CD or DVD drive cannot read a disc or takes too long to start	Ensure the disc is inserted with the label facing up and centered in the tray. Wait at least 30 seconds to let the drive determine the type of media. Clean the disc with a disc cleaning kit, available from most computer stores. The driver may be corrupted or out-dated. Update the Driver.
I cannot remove a CD or DVD	Turn on your computer, and press the Eject button nearest the drive to open the tray. If you suspect a problem with the actual Eject button: Click the Windows Start Button and then Computer. Right-click the CD or DVD drive you want to open. Select Eject from the menu
I cannot create (burn) a disc	Ensure the disc is inserted with the label facing up and centered in the tray. Verify that you are using the correct disc type (media) for the drive. Try a different brand of disc. Make sure the disc is clean and undamaged. If recording stopped during a recording session, the disc may be damaged ; Use a different disc. Use the correct type of disc for the type of files you are recording. When using a CD-R disc, make sure that it is blank when recording music and is blank or append able (with space to add more data files) when recording data. Verify that you are using the correct disc type when making a copy of a disc. Some recording programs can record only to the same disc type as the source. For example, you can record a DVD only to a DVD+R/–R or a DVD+RW/–RW disc, and you can record a CD only to a CD-R or a CD-RW disc. Make sure the disc is in the correct drive and you specify the same drive in the CD or DVD recording software. Select a slower write speed for the recording drive, if it is available. The recording software may not let you add a track if it exceeds the available space on your disc. You can make space available by removing one or more tracks from the list before recording the files to disc. Close all software programs and windows before recording. Make sure you have enough space available on your hard disk drive to store a temporary copy of the content. Click the Windows Start Button, then Computer. Right-click on the hard disk drive and select Properties to view the space available. If you are on a network, copy the files from a network drive to your hard disk drive first, and then record them to disc. Close all programs and windows and then restart your computer.
I cannot add data to a DVD	Make sure you set the correct recording option (append or add data files) in your DVD burning software
Titles of music tracks are not displayed for the CD	The computer must be connected to the Internet for the artist, title, and track information to appear when playing music CDs. This information is not recorded on the disc. Track information may not be available for every CD.
An error message appears when capturing video.	You may need to select the capture device if your computer has both an analog and a digital video capture device. Refer to the Help menu in the video capture program to find out how to change the video device selection.
I cannot play a DVD movie on a DVD player.	Your DVD player cannot play video files recorded onto the DVD as data files. To play a movie properly, use a video recording program. Some video files may be viewed on a computer, but not on a home DVD video player.