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Windows Vista CD drive runs every few minutes

Discussion in 'Legacy Windows' started by kweickum, 2009/04/01.

  1. 2009/04/01
    kweickum

    kweickum Inactive Thread Starter

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    My wife has a laptop running Vista. She leaves the CD drive tray popped out because even though there is no disk in it, the motor runs every few minutes and makes noise. It annoys her.
    We have 2 other computers running Vista and they do not do that.
    Does anybody have an idea how to find out what is accessing the drive every few minutes?
     
    kweickum,
    #1
  2. 2009/04/01
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi kweickum. Welcome to Windowsbbs! :)

    The reason the drive runs the motor every few minutes is that its searching for a CD in the drive even though there isn't one there. If you close the drive then does the motor in the CD drive still do the same thing? If it doesn't then close the CD drive and only open it when you need to put in a CD. I don't see any point or benefit in having the CD drive open for no reason if you aren't using it. :confused:
     
    Evan Omo,
    #2


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  4. 2009/04/02
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Well, that's what he said...

    I've never come across this... a drive spinning up without a CD in it.
     
    Arie,
    #3
  5. 2009/04/02
    kweickum

    kweickum Inactive Thread Starter

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    I guess I did not explain it very well, but the drive only makes noise when the tray is pushed in, which is why my wife keeps it popped open.

    We tried putting CDs into it that she has loaded things from recently and there was no change. I suspect that it is caused by popping out a CD before closing the Explorer window. But we haven't been able to prove that.

    Next I am going to try looking at the task manager process window and try to catch a process running at the time the drive motor goes.
     
    kweickum,
    #4
  6. 2009/04/03
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    That makes more sense. I haven't seen that issue happen to anyone before. :confused: Try booting up in Safe Mode and see if you notice the drive powering up. If it doesn't happen in Safe Mode then maybe one of your installed programs or a driver is causing the issue.
     
    Evan Omo,
    #5
  7. 2009/04/03
    Miz

    Miz Inactive Alumni

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    I've seen that happen with floppy drives when a file that is on the "Recent Item" list was accessed from a floppy.

    Try clearing the "Recent Items" list on the Start Menu and see if that has any effect. Maybe Vista does the same with CDs.

    If not, all you've lost is a little time and a few mouse clicks.
     
    Miz,
    #6
  8. 2009/04/03
    kweickum

    kweickum Inactive Thread Starter

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    Miz, you are brilliant! I cleared the recent items list and it no longer tries to access the CD drive. Thanks! Mamma's happy now...which means I am too. Thanks! :D
     
    kweickum,
    #7
  9. 2009/04/03
    Miz

    Miz Inactive Alumni

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    You're welcome! It's always nice when there's a simple fix. :)
     
    Miz,
    #8

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