Before following the recommendations below, ensure that more than one CD is tested. If only one disc cannot be read or detected, the notes below do not apply to your issue. You likely have a dirty or bad CD. Steps on cleaning a CD are on our cleaning computer page.

Bad drivers

Ensure the latest CD-ROM drivers are installed and installed properly.

If you are using Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME, or XP ensure that Device Manager has no conflicts or errors present. If no conflicts are present, click the plus ( + ) next to CD-ROM and remove the CD-ROM listed. Once removed, reboot the computer to have the CD-ROM redetected and possibly the issue resolved.

A listing of CD-ROM manufacturers and links to their driver pages is on our CD-ROM drivers page.

Issue with firmware

The CD-ROM firmware may be invalid or incorrect causing the CD-ROM read or redetect errors. Verify with the computer or CD-ROM manufacturer that there are no available firmware updates available to resolve this issue.

A listing of CD-ROM manufacturers and links to their driver pages that may contain firmware updates is on our CD-ROM drivers page.

Defective CD-ROM drive

If, after following the above recommendations, you continue to experience the same problems, the CD-ROM drive may be defective. To test this, create a bootable floppy diskette with CD-ROM drivers on that diskette and from MS-DOS test a data CD drive from MS-DOS.

If the drive does detect and read the disc, there’s likely an issue with the operating system and not a defective drive. We recommend the operating system be reinstalled and the drive be erased and the operating system reinstalled.

If the drive does not read the disc from MS-DOS, unfortunately the CD-ROM drive is likely bad and needs to be replaced.

  • How to create a boot disk and additional help.
  • See our CD-ROM definition for further information and related links.
  • CD-ROM help and support.