Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
• Try a disc that you know works.
• Restart the computer (the magic cure-all).
• Remove the drive from Device Manager in Windows, and allow the system to redetect the
drive.
Failure to Read CD-R/RW Discs in CD-ROM or DVD Drive
If your CD-ROM or DVD drive fails to read CD-R and CD-RW discs, keep the following in mind:
• Some old 1x CD-ROM drives can't read CD-R media. Replace the drive with a newer, faster,
cheaper model.
• Many early-model DVD drives can't read CD-R, CD-RW media; check compatibility.
• The CD-ROM drive must be MultiRead compatible to read CD-RW because of the lower
reflectivity of the media; replace the drive.
• If some CD-Rs but not others can be read, check the media color combination to see whether
some color combinations work better than others; change the brand of media.
• Packet-written CD-Rs (from Adaptec DirectCD or Drag to Disc and backup programs) can't be
read on MS-DOS/Windows 3.1 CD-ROM drives because of the limitations of the operating
system.
• Sometimes, older drives can't read the pits/lands created at faster speeds. Record the media at
a slower speed.
• If you are trying to read a packet-written CD-R created with DirectCD or Drag to Disc on a
CD-ROM drive, reinsert the media into the original drive, eject the media, and select the option
Close to Read on Any Drive.
• Download and install a UDF reader compatible with the packet-writing software used to create
the CD-RW on the target computer. If you are not sure how the media was created, use ISO
Buster, which is available from
www.isobuster.com
,
to read UDF discs and copy media from
damaged discs.
Failure to Read a Rewritable DVD in DVD-ROM Drive or Player
If your DVD-ROM or DVD player fails to read a rewritable DVD, try the following solutions:
• Reinsert DVD-RW media into the original drive and finalize the media. Make sure you don't
need to add any more data to the media if you use a first-generation (DVD-R 2x/DVD-RW 1x)
drive because you must erase the entire disc to do so. You can unfinalize media written by
second-generation DVD-R 4x/DVD-RW 2x drives. See your DVD-RW disc-writing software
instructions or help file for details.
• Reinsert DVD+RW media into the original drive and change the compatibility setting to
emulate DVD-ROM. See the section “
DVD+RW and DVD+R
,
” earlier in this chapter, for
details.
• Write a single-layer disc and retry if the media is dual-layer. Most DVD-ROM drives can't
read DL media.
• Make sure the media contains more than 521MB of data. Some drives can't read media that
contains a small amount of data.
Failure to Create a Writable DVD
