SAmsung CD Drive Won't Read Some CD's
August 30, 2010 5:45 PM   Subscribe

Why does my external DVD/CD drive read some CD's and not others? Can I fix it?

I have a Samsung DVD/CD reader/writer model # SE-S084 connected to my Eee PC 1000 running Windows XP. I am trying to import music into iTunes but some CD's appear to be blank when I view them using iTunes or Windows Explorer. Any suggestions? I have seen some recommendations about cleaning the lens but that doesn't seem right since it will read some CD's.
posted by nestor_makhno to Computers & Internet (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Is the disc from the EMI or BMG labels, and released between 2001 and 2006? If so could be a form of copy protection. All I can suggest if that is the case is try a more sophisticated ripping program like EAC and then import the mp3s into iTunes.

(The Samsung support site lists the latest firmware as TS01 dated 2009-05-06, so if by some chance that's not what it's currently running you might try flashing it.)
posted by Rhomboid at 6:50 PM on August 30, 2010


Response by poster: It is definitely not just major label CD's. How does one check the firmware?
posted by nestor_makhno at 9:10 PM on August 30, 2010


Sometimes the firmware is reported as part of the device name in Device Manager. You might have to look at the full name under a tab in a Properties page somewhere; I don't have a Windows machine handy to check this, but look for TS01 somewhere in that string. Alternatively you might try running the firmware flashing app and see if it can tell you the current version.

Even if it's not copy protection at work you should consider giving EAC a shot. If that worked then you'd at least know it's not a hardware thing. Likewise if you had another computer somewhere that you could try ripping the disc with that might rule out software and indicate a hardware problem.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:02 PM on August 30, 2010


Depending on the other software you may have installed, there could also be upper or lower filters on the CDROM driver itself that could be preventing the contents from displaying properly. Try creating a restore point on your system, then run Microsoft's CDROM diagnostic utility.
posted by samsara at 5:33 AM on August 31, 2010


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