CD/DVD player not working on Laptop.

[shimmerysilverglitter]

Just that really, just getting a message saying there is no disc in the player when there is.

I am clueless and don't want to get done over if I need to take somewhere for repair. Any tips on avoiding being overcharged, what to ask for etc please.

Are PC World any good for repairs, grateful for any recommendations. Am in West London area.

It's knackered or filthy one or the other, I take it you have tried a few CDs to make sure it isn't that.

As you can buy a new one for under £15 you may as well just do that, they are all the same unless they say on them they are for laptops, you can order them from somewhere like Ebuyer.

to change em you unscrew the case screws on the PC, take the sides off, there is a metal frame and where the DVD is you will see 4 screws 2 on each side holding it in, just unscrew them, slide the drive out and unplug it, plug the new one in, slide it in, do the screws back up again and stick the sides of the case back on, easy as pie.

I might add have the PC plugged in when you take the sides off but not switched on and touch the metal frame or the back of the Power supply to earth yourself before unplugging the PC and changing the drive, you will have about 15 mins before you need to earth yourself again.

Thanks for replying. It is a Dell laptop where the cd or dvd slides straight in rather than a tray coming out to receive it iyswim.

Am sure I will mess it up if I try to do it myself. Is it expensive to get someone to do it? Have tried loads of cd's so know it is the actual player.

Thanks again for advice. Pretty peed off with it actually as it is only 18 months old and player hardly used. Not under guarantee though unfortunately.

I had this! And found it was a driver that needed replacing. Sometimes they just stop working. No idea why.

there is a place in your computer that shows where things are. Somewhere in a control panel ( depends on Op. System) and you can see if the driver has been interfered with or de-activated and it means just clicking back onto it.

I'm sorry I can't be more vague.

Can you give the Operating System that you are using? I presume that it's Windows (but it might not be) but which version? Someone can then give you instructions on how to check the driver.

Taking laptops apart is possible but is generally trickier than with a boxy desktop. Some laptops have special little catches, switches and screws that make the various bits such as drives or memory pop out.

So try for a software/OS fix first and if there's no joy we'll step up and deal with the hardware side.

It is Windows Vista.

Have checked the driver (I think) and it all appears to be working and tells me that I have the most up to date driver for my system.

So you have a suck in drive as in what the Wii has, looks like a letter box, stick the disc in half way and it sucks it the rest of the way in.

It's probably dirty, they get dirty fast due to the way they work, they suck dirt in with the disc and blow it round the inside of the tray, my brother has a suck in CD burner he takes it apart and cleans it every 6 months.

I have no idea how much places charge, probably more then the cost of a new drive, you could try one of them CD/DVD lens cleaning kits you might be able to find one in places like poundland or 99p shop I've seen them in there sometimes, they look like a CD with a bottle of isopropanol with them and normally cost around £4 - £12.

Mine was like this (XP) someone said it was because the draw thing gets too hot (laptop is on all the time) Since I started working with the CD draw open, when I do rarely use it, it works OK.

Only just noticed the word laptop, obviously my instructions where how to open a desktop, sorry about that.

Laptops very some are very easy to change bits in others pretty hard, the easiest ones just require the correct screws to be undone or a particular panal if there are multiple ones on the base and will sometimes give instructions on how to change parts in the instruction book, others are a right pain in the arse, it depends on how upgrade friendly the company is.

Hopefully the cleaning CD will do the job anyway.