A CD-ROM or other Optical Disc Drive is not working properly (reading or writing).

When troubleshooting Optical Disc Drive issues the single most effective tool is the activity light (drive light) on the drive itself. The type of drive (basic ODD, Super-Multi drive, Blu-Ray, etc.) does not matter they all exhibit the same basic light pattern when they read discs.

When a known good disc (CD-ROM disc, Movie disc, Blu-Ray disc, etc) is placed in a properly working Optical Drive the drive light will exhibit the following pattern:

• The drive light will flash several times (the number of times varies greatly)
• The drive light will go solid for a short period of time (the length of time varies)
• The drive light may flash a couple more times (the number of times will vary) and then go out
• The drive is ready to use

1. Place a known good disc (CD-ROM, standard movie or Blu-Ray disc if the drive supports it) into the drive and close it.
2. Observe the drive light activity.
3. If the light works as described above the drive is most likely working properly.
4. If the light does NOT come on or comes on and remains solid the drive or the disc is having problems.
   1. Try another disc (preferably one that works in another computer).
   2. If the drive is still not reading discs use Device Manager to reinstall the device (DVD/CD-ROM drives)