I have had my 48x CD-ROM Drive for a little over 5 years. But lately I have noticed that it doesn't want to install games without several tries. And the games I do install takes forever to first be regonized and then loaded. It takes a series of loading the CD, CD spins, CD stops spinning and then I must eject. Eventually the game loads. I have been having this issue with Medal of Honor (and its two expansions) and Command & Conquer's Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge. I can't even load C&C Generals.

1. OS is Windows XP

2. I make sure all background tasks, including security suits, are closed.

3. I recently cleaned the CD-ROM.

4. Basically I have done everything I am supposed to do.


So what do you think? I read somewhere that 5 years is a long time to have one work. Is this true? What do you think? Thanks.

Age is and is not a factor. It is; based upon modern codec for anti-piracy, it makes it harder for older drives to comprehend the data. It is not; it should be adequate at the 5 yr mark, unless it was a bottom line configured, or no-namer secondary.

When you say clean, do you mean using a cd cleaning disc with the funny little brushes on the reader side?
If so, then your search may be over, go get a new drive. The delicate laser in a drive designed for home pc use is way less tolerable than that found in stereo configurations. Chalk it up, and only use compressed air and a vaccum to clean up your rig in the future.
Or, do you mean removed, compressed air, then vacummed out/off the dust bunnies, and alcohol swiped the data connection? If so, check connections.

Also check the data cable, they have been known to go bad without any provoked cause.
Lastly, check to make sure the pin plug didn't inadvertently fall off during your last clean up.

Erm...without any further fuss, yes...it's broken, time for a new one. I recognize a lot of the things you mentioned, i just recently had to get a new one myself and those things happened to me as well. Just buy a new one dude, they're fairly cheap nowadays.

Even if it isn't broken I would recommend a new one. I think it's just starting to show its age, as I've had this happen to me before. If you are simply after a CD-ROM drive then they are extremely cheap and for a little more you could upgrade to a DVD Rom / DVD RW.

This is one of the things I wouldn't waste time trying to fix. Get a new one.

Thanks for all your responses. I have a CD-R/RW brand new sitting in its box that I bought on a whim over a year ago because of the deal I got. Glad I did! And Felix, I'm going to have to chalk this one up to experience though even before I "cleaned" it it was giving problems anyway. Lets just say I helped it become worse by taking what amounts to a scrub brush to its lens. :D