Formatting drive

Our computer at the fire hall (I'm a volunteer) does not wish to play any DVDs or CDroms. An error message pops up when attempting to play these discs (they are our training for firematics discs and do play on other computers) requesting that the drive needs formatting. To me that means erasing. It is Win 2000.
Any suggestions?

 

Need some more information. Specifically, what is the error message which keeps popping up. Type of computer you are using, amount of RAM, DVD/CD drive you are using. Does the computer play other CDs/DVDs without problems? Have you tried the disc in another computer?

 

I would suspect the CD drive has failed or the laser lense is extremely dirty. It doesn't seem to be reading the File Allocation Table of the disks which would cause the operating system to give you that error message. One way to confirm this is to swap the CD drive with another computer's and see if the problem travels with the swap.

 

I am assuming that this is referring to the cds you are trying to read rather than the hard drive
It may be the cd drive itself of the cds
First of all - this time of year with humidity the disks can be dirty
Wash the disks carefully with water and a tiny bit of mild soap
Dry them carefully with a soft cloth ( not paper towel)
Check that the cables and power supply to the cd are in tight
Try swapping another cd drive and try that next