How Do You Troubleshoot A DVD-ROM Drive?
Troubleshooting a DVD-ROM drive is a straightforward process that can be divided into three distinct classes of failure. To begin the troubleshooting process, establish whether this drive is newly installed and has never functioned in this system or if the drive was previously functioning and no longer works. Once the drive history has been established, the question becomes whether the problem is a hardware issue or one entirely caused by software. Press the drive tray access button to confirm that the drive is connected to power and that the drive access tray will open. Insert a known good DVD-ROM disk that you have confirmed can be read by another drive. Confirm that the drive you are testing cannot read the known good disk. Remove the case side access panel and verify that the DVD-ROM is the 40-pin ATA variety. Visually inspect the Master/Slave/Cable Select jumper settings on both drives sharing the IDE controller channel to ensure they are correctly set, if there are two IDE drives
