Cheap optical drives! BEWARE!

[wogfor]

I am finding that those dinosaur optical drives are troublesome! First, I had some serious issues with my gaming rig - constant freezes, restarts and everyone's favorite, the Blue Screen of Death! I tried every diagnostic tool and procedure, but found that when I pulled the plug on the optical drive, my troubles ceased immediately! It's still in the case, I just pulled the cables!

Now I also have another system that I use mostly as a workstation and some light gaming, and it has been making more and more noise! Grinding and even vibrations transmitting up through my desk! I thought at first that I was loosing an HDD! I went through the trouble of buying a new drive, cleaning out old programs, and even installed a cloning program with the intention of replacing the drive. I got it up on the kitchen table tonight and cracked it open, and once I got my ear down close, it was one of the optical dives again making the grinding noises! (Yes, there are two! I used to create mix discs back when this thing was newer -before Mp3's and USB drives on car audio decks!!)

This is also the same system that was crashing due to a faulty wireless mouse receiver!

My point being that sometimes when you are having problems, don't overlook anything when troubleshooting!

I did have to install an optical drive on another system I put together today, but I had no choice as my OS came on a disc!

Is anybody else even using them anymore? I have some games still on disc, and I may just pick up an external drive to use when I have to...

 

[boju]

Unlucky. I've never had problems like this besides the odd lense or tray eject go bad in the 20odd years using systems with optical drives. Brands such as Liteon, Lg, Asus and Samsung.

When you heard vibrations, did it stop or keep going? Bit odd it'll make any noise if no disc was in there for it to begin moving parts. Good on you for finding out yourself anyhow.

Usb is dominanting but optical discs still have their uses, Quake 2 + music cd

 

[smorizio]

with cd rom drives now they can have firmware issues with disk and systems. on the one that locks up..see if the drive has the newest firmware. on drive there only one or two makers of the insides left. most people just slap there name on a case and are done with it. i try buying better drives sansung/asus.