Windows not recognizing discs?

[flight doc89]

Running WinXP-Pro SP2, my dvdrw drive is an AOpen 16x16 DVDRW. When I had X64-Pro, I could play half my older games fine, but now that I've gone back to XP, i can't play them :shrug:

Games in question: Quake, QuakeII, and a bunch of mission packs for each. I put the disc in the drive, and nothing happens. I try to open the disc in My Computer, and it acts like there isnt a disc in the drive. I've tested it with some DVD movies and burned some software, and it functions fine in that respect. It just won't recognize these discs. My Thief (Dark Project, from like 2002 or so) disc doesnt play, neither does Red Faction. Any ideas? (Most of these discs are in GREAT shape, very few scratches. The Red Faction cds are perfect)

 

[Syris]

maybe the laser is dirty, either try air cleaning it or try another cd rom drive

 

[Who]

Are they originals or copies?

 

[greg88]

Compatibility mode perhaps?

 

[suprageezer]

Can you go to my computer, and open the CD? if so try right clicking on the exe and select properties, then select the Compatibilty tab and tell it to run in 98 environment. Also hold the CD up to a light and is you see one single pinhole it's toast.

 

[flight doc89]

all originals.

compatibility mode emulates win3.1/95/98 etc when running a certain program: windows isnt even recognizing that there is a disc in the drive.

I right click the drive in My Comp, it spins around for a 30 sec or so looking for data, then the menu comes up, i hit explore, and it opens a window showing an empty E: drive

I'll pull a drive outta one of these other computers and see if i can make that work, but these other computers i have with me are 5 and 8 years old, havent fired one up in 6 months and havent fired the other up in a couple years

 

[suprageezer]

sounds like a pin hole in the data material layer then, hold it up to a light and see, thats the only time Ive ever come across that.

 

[flight doc89]

I held them all up to the light; if there are any pinholes, they're too small for my eyes to see.

who likes my taste in music

I think my drive might be dying, i've had a couple cd's not burn right lately, i blamed it on Nero 8 but maybe its the drive? a storm came thru a few weeks ago and screwed with the power while i was out of town (i left the comp on doing torrents; when i got back the comp was off), but i'd have thought something like that would kill something else in my comp first.

 

[suprageezer]

Could be the drive I have to buy new ones at least once a year, seems the 52,000 rpm wears the bearings out alot quiker these days and I only buy sony, but I do burn alot. Try them in another cd player and see what happens.

 

[ms07s]

I held them all up to the light; if there are any pinholes, they're too small for my eyes to see.

who likes my taste in music

I think my drive might be dying, i've had a couple cd's not burn right lately, i blamed it on Nero 8 but maybe its the drive? a storm came thru a few weeks ago and screwed with the power while i was out of town (i left the comp on doing torrents; when i got back the comp was off), but i'd have thought something like that would kill something else in my comp first.

A storm came through and fried my dvd player the microwave and my comp a few years back. At first it seemed fine, then it would recognize some files but not others, data would randomly disappear, and only one of my games would play. In my case it was the drive, and I thought the same thing, why not some other component first?

 

[GrimJack]

AOpen / Acer CD drives are shit. I've seen more of them die than all other brands put together.

I'll be surprised if it turns out to be anything other than the drive just deciding to join computer component heaven prematurely.

 

[Poodles]

Not to mention Nero installs a driver than can interfear with the function of the drive...

Uninstalling Nero doesn't fix it either usually, usually have to do a total reinstall to get the drive back online (that's what it took on my box).

I run a streamlined version of Nero now that doesn't install anything...

 

[flight doc89]

its the drive (or maybe Nero bullshit? the drive still works on DVD's)

I popped in my old Memorex (52x24x52x!!!!!!w0ot lol) out of the 8 year old (i think thats how old it is, maybe not i dont remember) computer (it's hard drive is fucked anyways, so im gonna scrap it to soup up the 5 year old computer....which is actually slower than the 8 year old one was (HP Pavilion for the fail)

anyways, wild tangent over, the Memorex worked fine, I installed Quake and Dissolution of Eternity (hell to the mutha-fuckin-yeah)(aka Mission Pack No. 2), downloaded WinQuake, and beat Dissolution of Eternity today. Now I'm about to start on Scourge of Armagon (Mission Pack No. 1), then next on the list is Dark Hour (another mission pack?).

Once I finish all my Quake stuff, I get to play Quake II (W0ot!!!!) (and then Quake II: The Reckoning, then Quake II: GroundZero......)

poodles: you said total reinstall; did you mean reformat and reinstall windows, or just delete all drivers and shit for your disc drive?

thanks guys!

 

[Poodles]

reformat and reinstall windows, but you look to have gotten around it.

You MIGHT be able to delete the driver and restore with a stock windows driver, but it doesn't always work.

The burning driver from Nero is installed in a layer that is a pain to access, and can cause issues. Some music CD's also had a driver like this, as does most burning software...