Disc Drive not seeing anything?

[arapahoepark]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530s and for the last year the disc drive sees absolutely nothing in it. In the last few days my dad did something (he uninstalled it and then reinstalled it or something and did some sort of test) and so it was working. I try it today and its acting up again not seeing any disc. You put any cd, dvd or whatever and you don't hear the spining or sound that comes with the computer scanning it, it just sits there not doing anything.
So any techies here that have any tips?

 

[jandrusk]

Is it the CD/DVD drive or the internal hard drive where this behavior is happening? Also, what operating system are you running?

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I think it's the DVD drive based on the description of the problem. That's a pretty old model number. You can try to clean the DVD reader with a DVD cleaner but they do just go bad after a period of time.

If you really need a DVD drive you could always get an external DVD drive but I so rarely use DVD drives that I have little use for them on laptops. They're just battery hogs as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Manuel]

It sounds like you are going to have to replace it. You can get one at ebay for $20

 

[MarieP]

I have a Dell Inspiron 530s as well. I bought it almost exactly 5 years ago.

What did your dad do to fix it? I have never heard of uninstalling your CD drive that comes with your computer.

Try going to your Start menu, clicking on Computer, and see if your E drive is showing up. It may be that it is not set to automatically start. Or perhaps there is dust preventing it?

(Listening to "Cleansing fountain: an acoustic instrumental journey down the Blue Ridge Parkway" as I type this!) Hadn't listen to it in awhile, thanks