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[SOLVED] Dysfunctional DVD Drive
[SOLVED] Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Hi everyone!
I hadn't used the DVD drive of my laptop in a while and I just realised yesterday that I cannot read CDs/DVDs anymore. I am wondering if it is a hardware problem or a software problem. I don't know where to start, what should I do?
Thank you for your help!
I hadn't used the DVD drive of my laptop in a while and I just realised yesterday that I cannot read CDs/DVDs anymore. I am wondering if it is a hardware problem or a software problem. I don't know where to start, what should I do?
Thank you for your help!
Last edited by f.r3d on 2017-05-08 19:12, edited 3 times in total.
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
check the logs
the answer to your question is almost always: "in the logs". If there indeed is a hardware problem, then there will likely be a "fail" message in dmesg or elsewhere right after you try to read a disc. Components with moving parts are often the first ones to fail. Optical drives are amongst the parts on old computers that fail and need repair/replacement.
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
OK, so how do I do that ? I have never checked the system logs nor dmesg before.
Last edited by f.r3d on 2017-05-08 13:42, edited 1 time in total.
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
- GarryRicketson
- Posts: 5644
- Joined: 2015-01-20 22:16
- Location: Durango, Mexico
Re: Dysfunctional CD Drive
You need to make some effort on your part, to learn how to administer your system.
How to check the system logs on Debian 8
Some of the results are not very up to date , but this one :
https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... art-issues
Or simply type :
at the terminal command prompt.
How to check the system logs on Debian 8
Some of the results are not very up to date , but this one :
https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... art-issues
http://www.linuxnix.com/what-is-linuxun ... to-use-it/I have never checked the system logs nor dmesg before
Or simply type :
Code: Select all
man dmesg
The above command will print out the contents of dmesg and allow you to scroll through the output just as you did viewing a standard log with the less command.Code: Select all
dmesg | less
"What we expect you have already Done"
==========
Old Website
======================
For the Birds
==================
What Does a Parrot Know About PTSD?
==========
Old Website
======================
For the Birds
==================
What Does a Parrot Know About PTSD?
Re: Dysfunctional CD Drive
If it's truly a CD drive (and not a DVD drive), then hardware becomes a distinct possibility. What's worse, CD-era optical drives tend to have proprietary interfaces, which makes swapping out drives impractical.f.r3d wrote:I hadn't used the CD drive of my laptop in a while and I just realised yesterday that I cannot read CDs anymore. I am wondering if it is a hardware problem or a software problem.
And that's the core of what you need to do: vary either hardware OR software and see which one fails. If you have a USB optical drive, or can borrow one, use that to rule out hardware. Alternately, boot from a live medium using a totally non-Debian distro. You don't necessarily need a full desktop OS with every bell and whistle; just a minimal install and (optionally) a light DE/WM of your choice.
But before you start downloading .isos and all, there are a couple of things worth trying first...
- Look in your BIOS to verify that the drive is recognized at the hardware level
- Boot your machine and do a quick ls -l /dev/cd* at the CLI to verify that the drive is recognized by the OS
- if all your testing so far has been with data CDs, try a couple of commercially-burned music CDs
One last thought: given how inexpensive DVD drives are these days, you may decide that it's not worth your time to do a detailed differential diagnosis (particularly if your drive is a true CD drive). There's a wide array of external USB DVD drives available online for under $30USD.
Last edited by dasein on 2017-05-08 13:36, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
My bad, it is a DVD drive (I meant "CD" in a generic way). I will look into what you all sent me.
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
- eor2004
- Posts: 251
- Joined: 2013-10-01 22:49
- Location: Puerto Rico
- Has thanked: 4 times
- Been thanked: 5 times
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
In my experience laptop CD/DVD drives don't last very long, there's a high probability that is a hardware failure, the good news is that you can get some cheap internal or external drives from Amazon or eBay, just make sure that the seller has a very good feedback before buying.
Debian 12 Gnome on a MSI H61M-P25 (B3) PC & on a Dell Latitude E6410 & HP EliteBook 8540p Laptops.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
LMDE 6 on a Panasonic ToughBook CF-C1 Laptop.
Bodhi Linux 7 on a HP Compaq DC5750 Small Form Factor PC.
Windows 11 on a Intel DH55TC PC.
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
How do you know you can't play them? Have you tried and got errors? If so, can you post the errors here, and what program gave them. It could also give clues.
ASRock H77 Pro4-M i7 3770K - 32GB RAM - Pioneer BDR-209D
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
OK so here is what I have tried so far. I booted on a live usb with Fedora and when I inserted a music cd, it didn't show up, nor with a software cd (with a windows software on it for a dictionary).
What I mean by "my DVD drive cannot read a CD/DVD" is that when I insert a CD/DVD on Debian, nothing happens. There is no pop up (on Gnome) asking me what to do and it does not show up in nautilus (even in /media). I hear the disc spinning, "erratically" I would say and then nothing, it just stops spinning.
The BIOS of my laptop is normal. Nothing that would hinder the normal functioning of the DVD drive. It even appears as a boot option.
What I mean by "my DVD drive cannot read a CD/DVD" is that when I insert a CD/DVD on Debian, nothing happens. There is no pop up (on Gnome) asking me what to do and it does not show up in nautilus (even in /media). I hear the disc spinning, "erratically" I would say and then nothing, it just stops spinning.
The BIOS of my laptop is normal. Nothing that would hinder the normal functioning of the DVD drive. It even appears as a boot option.
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frederic@frederic-laptop:~$ ls -l /dev/cd*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 mai 8 20:09 /dev/cdrom -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 mai 8 20:09 /dev/cdrw -> sr0
Code: Select all
frederic@frederic-laptop:~$ ls -l /dev/dvd*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 mai 8 20:09 /dev/dvd -> sr0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 mai 8 20:09 /dev/dvdrw -> sr0
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Lets first check to see if it's mounted. If it has, there should be contents visible in /media/cdrom/.
Also, post the output of /etc/fstab.
Also, post the output of /etc/fstab.
ASRock H77 Pro4-M i7 3770K - 32GB RAM - Pioneer BDR-209D
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
When I insert a music cd /media/cdrom is empty.
Code: Select all
frederic@frederic-laptop:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=b453ab8b-f85c-424e-bb37-a6011ac26bb7 / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /home was on /dev/sda6 during installation
UUID=c3a9b9ca-4a97-480e-b2c7-7ceb48c9cd11 /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# swap was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=fc3d7e3f-160d-40a6-990e-24d6ae100fb0 none swap sw 0 0
/dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,size=4g 0 0
tmpfs /var/cache/apt/archives tmpfs defaults,size=4g 0 0
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Which leaves a strong but still rebuttable assumption of hardware failure. The fact that the drive is seen by both BIOS and OS strengthens that presumption.f.r3d wrote:OK so here is what I have tried so far. I booted on a live usb with Fedora and when I inserted a music cd, it didn't show up, nor with a software cd (with a windows software on it for a dictionary).
A couple more things to try before ordering a new drive...
- Install wodim (if necessary) and post the output of
Code: Select all
wodim --devices
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mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom && ls -l /media/cdrom
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Code: Select all
frederic@frederic-laptop:~$ wodim --devices
wodim: No such file or directory.
Cannot open SCSI driver!
For possible targets try 'wodim --devices' or 'wodim -scanbus'.
For possible transport specifiers try 'wodim dev=help'.
For IDE/ATAPI devices configuration, see the file README.ATAPI.setup from
the wodim documentation.
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Doesn't matter. That dictionary you used last time is fine.f.r3d wrote:What kind of data drive ?
But I'm definitely not optimistic
If the manual mount fails (and at this point, I'm assuming that it will), I am fresh out of ideas. So far, the drive has failed every test put to it, and I'm hard-pressed to think of a way it could be anything but hardware. Many inexpensive optical drive OEMs save on manufacturing costs by using crappy, low-powered lasers.
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Code: Select all
frederic@frederic-laptop:~$ sudo mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom && ls -l /media/cdrom
[sudo] password for frederic:
mount: aucun support trouvé dans /dev/sr0
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Agreed. I mean, until/unless a second drive were to fail, it's still theoretically possible that it's software, but the safe-money bet is dead drive.f.r3d wrote:I think it is broken indeed...Code: Select all
mount: no media found in /dev/sr0 (If Google translate is to be believed)
If you have a retailer near you that will price-match newegg or amazon (and has a liberal return policy, just in case), remember that buying local supports local jobs (including yours).
Re: Dysfunctional DVD Drive
I'll see about that. I do not really use any CD/DVD nowadays but it could come in very handy soon so I'll check that out.
Thank you for your help !
Thank you for your help !
Debian 11 Gnome 64bit
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Thinkpad T460
4X Intel Core i7-6600U / 8GB Ram / Intel HD Graphics 520 / 256GB SSD /
Re: [SOLVED] Dysfunctional DVD Drive
Wish the news had been better. Thanks for marking your thread as [SOLVED]