Cannot get CDs or DVDs to play, have I missed something?

[phenest]

That very same line has always existed in my own fstab. I don't think it hurts anything being there.
I wouldn't remove it though. Just comment it out.

[Lysander]

I guess you could rule out hardware faults.

If you insert a CD or DVD (any kind of data), what is the output of:

Code: Select all

mount | grep sr0

(Don't forget to try sr1 too).

Obviously, give it a moment to try to mount.

OK, nothing from the output of either of those. It just goes back to the prompt.

Weirdly enough, I can now play CDs in sr1, but not sr0. And I can't play DVDs in either. But sr1 is a little glitchy in doing so, it stop and starts occasionally.

I am wondering whether it would be worth changing the IDE cable, though twisting a new one around the drives is going to be a pain. To be fair, sr1 was the drive I got with my first Dell back in 2004... and sr0 isn't much older.

Debiman, thanks for the suggestion about fstab. And that line has been commented out.

[phenest]

I am wondering whether it would be worth changing the IDE cable

Why? You said it worked in Solus. It's the same cable.

How old are these drives? Despite me saying you can rule out hardware, what if the drives are just plain worn out? Perhaps a tired laser? Older drives had poor longevity even with little use.

[Lysander]

I am wondering whether it would be worth changing the IDE cable

Why? You said it worked in Solus. It's the same cable.

How old are these drives? Despite me saying you can rule out hardware, what if the drives are just plain worn out? Perhaps a tired laser? Older drives had poor longevity even with little use.

Yes, I just updated my last post. sr1 is from 2004. sr0 is from about 2005, they may be just worn out, indeed.

[Dai_trying]

I once had a problem with dust on the lens of a cd drive and it gave me intermittent errors, it was only after purchasing a new drive (upgraded to a dvd writer though) that I took cd drive apart and cleaned it out and it's been working ever since! It too was quite an old machine but everything else was working so I had to keep it going. If you are going to replace them it might be worth a quick clean just to check beforehand.

[Job]

Can you go through Gnome-control-center and tick the option related to what to do with CD/DVD when inserted? Not too sure but I believe the option under Gnome-control-center is something like auto-start applications.

[Lysander]

Can you go through Gnome-control-center and tick the option related to what to do with CD/DVD when inserted? Not too sure but I believe the option under Gnome-control-center is something like auto-start applications.

i found that, thanks. I think, for now, I am going to put this down to a hardware issue. I will experiment with the cable and cleaning or replacing the drives. If I remember correctly, both drives even had problems under Windows 7.

[phenest]

If I remember correctly, both drives even had problems under Windows 7.

Shame you didn't mention that in the beginning.

[Lysander]

If I remember correctly, both drives even had problems under Windows 7.

Shame you didn't mention that in the beginning.

You know, I only just thought of it. Sorry for not mentioning it earlier, it does seem rather relevant now! But the help gained so far in this thread has been valuable regardless, and I can use it going forward. I will update soon.