ive had this computer since august of 2003 and its origional CD-ROM is no longer working...

the door opens and closes so its getting power. and when i close it a green light blinks a few times but the computer doesnt do anything at all. (nothing comes up on screen) it doesnt sound like its spinning the disk either (i used hear a noise whenever it would try to read)

i've tried Audio CDs... burnt and normal. and games, software CDs. Nothin works.
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im using windows XP home
Compaq computer...

Optical drives do die. The more use they get the sooner that is.

Have you tried a lens cleaner in the drive? It could be that it just can't read the data due to dust/dirt.

The next thing to try is see if it works in another machine. These steps should help confirm or eliminate the drive itself as the problem.

i figured it might just be old but ive gotten a lot of good advise on this site so i thought maybe something else might be wrong, hopefully something i can take care of.

thanks anyway tho.

Check the drive under the Device Manager:
RT click My Computer then click Manage then Device Manager or go to start/run/ devmgmt.msc for any "!"

Is the drive seen under My Computer?

If so right click it & choose properties:
Check your Auto Play settings.

One other thing I forgot to mention (jephree's post reminded me); if the cdrom drive is a standard IDE/ATAPI drive, check in Device Manager to ensure both IDE controller channels are engaged.

sorry guys i forgot about this thread, im just replacing it with someone elses, if that doesnt work out ill be back to find out why. and ill keep it in this thread. thanks anyway.