• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Media not detected in optical drives - any easy fix?

I

iulianv

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2012
Messages
75
Location
Romania
This week-end I got an old IBM PC Server 325 (PPro-based) to play with, and after two days of (dis)assembling, dusting and washing its parts almost everything is working fine.

The CD-ROM however (8X SCSI) didn't seem to detect any CD (I tried 700 or 650MB, factory-made or written-at-home CD-R or CD-RW), which reminded me I had another unit - a SCSI Yamaha (re)writer - with the same problem, and I thought it would be a pitty to trash them if this is a common, easily fixable, issue... I didn't open the 8X yet, but the Yamaha looks clean on the inside, with no visible dirt on the lens. Yet another SCSI Yamaha (re)writer I have shows a "modified version" of the issue - it can only detect and read factory-made 650MB CDs (no "home-made" or rewritables).

By "cannot detect" I mean the unit flashes the activity LED for a couple of seconds when the media is inserted, and when trying to read it I instantly get the "drive-not-available" message, without any timed-out attempts or more LED activity. Is this something I can fix at home, or should I just let go and dispose of them?
 
One possible problem is the laser. They degrade and get weaker with time. The drive that reads factory-made (pressed aluminum?) media is probably benefiting because the pressed aluminum is more reflective. CD-R and CD-RW are not as reflective.

The other big problem is alignment of the assembly. If the machine was knocked around then the drive might be out of alignment. (A cat managed to destroy my original Yamaha 4416 SCSI writer by knocking the tower it was in over. The hard drive survived the knocking, but not the CD writer.)

I've tried getting advice on handling both problems over the years. The head assemblies used to be more interchangeable, but I wasn't too optimistic on finding a matching one. Based on my experience they are probably hopeless ...
 
Have you cleaned the surface of the lens? My Apple CD SC wouldn't even spin the disc up until I cleaned the lens even though on inspection it appeared clean.
 
I'll try doing that tonight on the 8X CD-ROM from the IBM server... after all, I've got very little to loose if I accidentally scratch the lens or make it even dirtier than it already is.

[later edit] well, cleaning the lens changed nothing... lucky for me I have a working 40X SCSI Toshiba CD-ROM drive
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top