Repairing and Upgrading Your PC

Troubleshooting Optical Drives

Optical drives generally work or they don't. Assuming the drive is installed and configured properly initially, it should be problem-free throughout its service life.

A Disc by Any Other Name

There is little relationship between the brand name of a disc and the company that made it. Some companies manufacture discs that are rebranded by several other companies, and may or may not also be sold under the manufacturer's brand name. Some companies put their own brands on discs from different manufacturers. Some companies do both.

It's quite possible to buy two apparently identical spindles of discs, sometimes with the same SKU, and find that one was made in Japan and the other in Taiwan, by different companies. It's also common for spindles of different capacity—25, 50, or 100—all with the same brand name, to contain discs made by different companies. In general, the best discs are made in Japan or Singapore and the worst in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The best way to determine disc types is to use DVD Identifier (http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com) or CD-R Identifier (no web site; search Google). Even these utilities aren't foolproof, because some high-quality disc manufacturers have sold master stamping dies to other companies, whose discs are identified as coming from the company that produced the stamping die rather than the company that actually produced the discs.

Use the following guidelines to troubleshoot optical drive problems:

• When an optical drive behaves ...