cd player not responding

Hi everyone,today I inserted a cd into my drive and immediately got a BSOD saying there was a hardware conflict and windows had been shutdown.
After I rebooted everything windows told me that it had recovered from a serious problem but all was ok now.I think that the cd drive has died as when I try to eject the cd that is in there nothing happens,when I try to click on open I'm told to "insert cd into drive E "
My query is whether I need to replace it as I also have a cd burner installed which also plays,just won't be able to copy from cd to cd.Also how do I get the cd out of the broken one?Will it hurt to leave it in until I can get another cd unit.
Many thanks in advance for any replies

 

1.) Open My Computer, Right click on the dead drive select eject. If this doesn't work then most likely the drive is dead & you need to resort to manual eject.

2.) Manual eject the disc; to do this look on the front of the drive for a small pinhole, straighten out a paperclip or other piece of fine wire insert it into the hole apply a little pressure you should feel a little resistance as you push in.

3.) If 1 or 2 doesn't work (or there's no little hole on the drive) then get a screwdriver and take the sucker apart till you can retrieve your disc. First the drive is most likely dead so you'll have to replace it anyways & secondly it's a good learning experience (just my opinion).

Go to http://www.pricewatch.com/ and search for CD-ROM or if you want to go for a DVD-ROM the prices have came way down from what they used to be and I like having to drives.

Good luck

Bubba169

 

Many thanks Bubba My friend got the **** thing out,one more query,if I buy a dvd drive I presume that it can be used as a cd player also?
once again thanks

 

Yes, it will play a CD too.

 

Yes a DVD-ROM drive will also serve as a CD-Rom drive. If you decide to go with a dvd drive you will also need dvd software such as WINDVD or something similar. The reason for this is so that you can watch DVD's without it your DVD drive is nothing more than a CD-Rom drive. Most of the OEM or bare drives will be just the drive itself If you spend a little more money and get a "retail" version these should include the drive, a new IDE cable, and the software for DVD playback, install the drive install the software and put the new IDE cable up just in case yours (or your friend's) ever fails you'll have a spare on hand (unless you feel that your old cable is possibly faulty).

As far as I know no version of Windows to date has built-in DVD software included in it all are third party software. Just don't be fooled by thinking that you can buy an "OEM" drive install it and then watch movies.

Bubba169

 

Maybe it's my age showing but why would anyone want to watch a movie on a computer? I really don't understand the concept of DVD players on a computer.

 

At the time I bought my stand alone DVD player for my TV it Costed a little more than $300.00 (US) but my mom had just bought a SONY VIAO PC with DVD-Rom drive on it but now stand alone players are less than $100.00 (US). So the best advantage that I know of is for playing DVD's that have been used for backups once the price of DVD burners fall alittle I'll probably get one for storage. Just imagine 4.7 Gb on a one sided disc & 9.4 Gb on a double sided disc thats alot of secondary storage for me. One other thing is you could get a video card with TV out on it and use the PC as a multimedia DVD, player, Gaming console, MP3 player. Then's there's the old question why do you want to play DVD's on your computer well because I can. I personally don't have one yet (I spend way to much time in front of this box already) but I would like to have one on each of my PC's (except onme with a DVD burner) as I said earlier for Data storage. Guess I'll have to wait till there's some kind of standard format adopted & prices fall.

Bubba169

 

Bmoore,
Do you have kids? Do you have a regular DVD player? Is you computer in the same room as your TV? Does your video card have TV-out?
These questions are big in my life relative to a DVD in a 'puter.
I don't <why??> have a stand alone DVD yet. I have two young kids, 4 and 2, and they both love to watch kids movies which I may or may not want to watch at a particular time.

My TV and the 'puter are both in my recroom where we spend the majority of our time as a family. If the kids want to watch a movie I can put it on the puter for them, and watch TV myself at the other end of the room.

Or, I can use the TV out that I have, and still play on the puter if I really want, while they watch the movie that is sent from the puter to the TV.

Buying or renting VHS tapes is kinda hard now in this day and age.

The biggest point again... We can all be in one room as a family BUT still doing or watching what we want at the same time. In other words, we are all entertained together, but maybe with different things. Isn't that what a home computer is for?

I did think it was a little stupid almost 2 years ago when I bought my first DVD for the puter when I didn't have a stand alone one.
But, it has turned out to probably be the best purchase I ever made for any of my puters.

Oh, and if you have a nice monitor AND a VERY comforable puter chair, what is wrong with watching an entire movie off the puter?? Put your feet up on the desk and relax!!
I watch my 35" Sony TV from about 13 feet away (my head laying on the couch to the TV). On the puter I am watching a 17" screen from about 3 max feet away. About the same, relative, wouldn't you say?
So yes, I'm all for having a DVD on a puter. Especially considering that it costs very little to upgrade from buying a new CD-Rom to buying a new DVD-Rom. That IS what I was facing when I bought the DVD. Wow, fingers are tired now.......
Hope this helps...

Dale

 

Many thanks for all the info people,it has made things a lot clearer for me.The only thing I don't know if I have TV out on my card or not but as I am in the same room as my TV/VIDEO/DVD I guess it doesn't really matter.
Once again thanks to all of you

 

dale442

I now know everything there is to know about why someone would want to watch a movie on the computer.

All my kids were grown and gone before there were computers. It's just me and the redhead left and we seldom watch a movie made after Bogie died. Besides that, there is no such thing as a comfortable computer chair.

To each his own.

 

Hey if everyone had the same ideas and opinions this world would be a very boring place. In dale442's case it's worthwhile but in bmoore1129's case it isn't justified so tric171 I say do some thinking about what you want and can afford and buy what YOU want to have after all it's your PC and you're the one using it.

Bubba169

 

Thanks again Bubba and all of you,just for now I'll just stick to CD Drive,when finances allow will get a DVD Drive (maybe).
Once again thanks for all the input,it was very enjoyable!!

 

My wife has decided to test the waters in video editing using her laptop and Windows Movie Maker. This far she is doing quite well in that she now succeeded in transferring our holiday Video from Canon 550i camcorder to laptop and now has an edited version of our holiday.
Normally this would be transferred back to the camcorder and then to VCR. However this time she would like to end up with a version to be played via CD or DVD ( I haven't a clue myself).
Would we need a CD player/recorder?

George.