CD-ROM won't read discs

[Bear359]

My CD-ROM won't read any kind of disc, when I put one in the light flashes and it makes the normal noise it would make when it did read them but now it keeps doing it and won't play the disc. I tried reinstalling and no luck. I accidentally left a CD in for a few days so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[photolady]

First thing to try is cleaning it. Buy a CD/DVD Lens Cleaner disk, these can be bought at any place they sell DVD/CDs or most any place they sell music.

How old is the cd rom drive? If cleaning doesn't fix it, it may be time for a new one and since DVDRW drives can be bought a lot cheaper now days, $16 for one I priced not long ago, I'd do that.

[SuperSparks]

I agree, just change the drive if cleaning the lens doesn't help. It sounds as if the laser has failed.