hello...i'm new :-) i'm really in need of help..i would be extremely grateful!

i havent had the time to get it sorted out, but its starting to bug me now...my disk drive wont read audio cds or cd roms, however it will read my dvds. it used to play both and then it suddenly stopped, i cant work out why this is. when i put a cd into the drive, it makes a noise like its trying to read it, but then just fails. ive tried opening it though My Computer...failed. helelllppppp!!!!

xxx

DVD/CD drives have two lasers (one for each) so therefore it is quite possible for the CD laser to fail while the DVD is just fine.

That being said you can still try to troubleshoot it. My first suggestion is to right click the drive under the Device Manager Start/Run/ devmgmt.msc and choose Uninstall. Then reboot the computer. This will force XP to reload the drivers. See if this helps.

Also view your Error Log via:

[1] Start Menu
[2] Help and Support
[3] Pick a Task
[4] Tools
[5] Advanced System Information
[6] View the Error Log

Look for any synchronous entries.

thankyou so much...im going to try that tommorow highly appriciated!!

xxxxx

ahhh..yes i tried that....and the error log keeps saying that the drive has 'had a bad block'...could this possibly mean a physical one?

xxx

It is another indication of a failed drive/laser. You could try a cleaning disk.

You also might want to read this:

How to Troubleshoot Issues with Reading CD, CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD Discs

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;321641

Clean the Drive
You can clean the disc drive by using a CD-ROM drive cleaning disc or DVD drive cleaning disc; these cleaning discs are available in most computer or home electronics stores. Before you purchase a drive cleaning disc, try to troubleshoot the issue by following the remaining steps in this article.


Test Disc Read with Copy or Xcopy
Copy and Xcopy are command-line utilities that typically uncover a disc-reading issue. If Copy and Xcopy complete successfully, the issue is unlikely to be a problem with reading the disc. A failure to copy may indicate drive problems or system problems; in that case, do more troubleshooting.

To use Copy and Xcopy to test disc-reading, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open dialog box, type cmd, and then press ENTER.
3. At the command prompt, type one of the following commands: To copy a folder:
copy <I>discdrive</I>:\<I>foldername</I> <I>drive</I>:\psstest /V

To copy the whole disk:
xcopy <I>discdrive</I>:\*.* <I>drive</I>:\psstest /V /E
NOTE: discdrive is the drive letter of the CD-ROM or DVD drive, foldername is the name of the folder containing files that you have to have to access on the disk, and drive is the letter of your system hard disk.


4. Press ENTER.
5. If you are prompted with the question whether psstest specifies a file name or directory name, press F.
6. If you are prompted to overwrite, press A.
NOTE: When you use /V with Copy or Xcopy, the copied files are verified. This takes longer but it makes sure that the files were copied correctly.