Cleaning optical drive

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 14 May 2006 8:39 pm

Can I clean the optical drive in my computer using the DVD-CD cleaning disk( dry) I use for my Cd player and Dvd Player?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 May 2006 2:04 am

Yes, but why do you need to do that? I've never seen a PC CD or DVD drive that needed cleaning.

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 15 May 2006 4:01 am

Jack, I was going to clean it as part of general maintenance.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Richard Bass on 15 May 2006 at 05:08 AM.]</p></FONT>

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 May 2006 4:32 am

Richard, the laser in a PC drive is not "exposed" like it is in many audio devices such as a "boom box" and thus never really gets "dirty" or has a fingerprint on it.

That would be the only reason to run the "cleaner".

Bill Ford · Post by **Bill Ford** » 15 May 2006 5:40 am

Jack,
Thanks for that bit of info, I burned a couple of CDs that had skips thought the unit needed cleaning,didn't help. Slowed the write time a little, and that fixed the problem.

Bill

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 May 2006 6:30 am

Bill, I keep my audio CD's burn speed to 8X, so they are compatible with almost any audio CD player (car in-dash are the most finnicky about CD-R burn speeds).

I have two instrumental CD's that I sell at concerts (and one of them is available from the Forum). At 8X, I've never had a playability complaint.

Richard Bass · Post by **Richard Bass** » 15 May 2006 8:22 am

Thanks for the info Jack. Learn something new everyday. I won't be messing with it. This forum is a great place.
Richard

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 15 May 2006 9:43 am

My CD drive is not working properly. A lot of CDs will start skipping during play mode. My computer has a second DVD/CD drive that works fine and the CD's don't skip. I was thinking of trying to clean the CD drive. Are you guys saying that it would not do any good to try to clean?

The PC fan does draw dust into the computer through various gaps, including the gaps around the the CD tray. So I was thinking it could get dirty in there. How does a cleaner disk work anyway?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 15 May 2006 10:16 am

There is a small laser light that is used to "read" the CD or DVD's. I and the other tech's on the Dell users forum are in agreement that a PC drive should never need a laser cleaning.

Since you have two drives and one does and one doesn't I would think if "dust" got into one it would get into the other. Bascially they are sealed from the rear and the only opening is the front where the tray is.

However, the laser itself could be failing and the reason for the skipping. But before you replace the drive, uninstall it in the Windows device manager then restart Windows and let Windows detect and reinstall it. See if that helps. IF there is a firmware update for the drive get it and install it.

Finally, it may not be the drive but something else that is causing it when that drive is used. Is it ALL audio CD's or just certain ones? If you read "data" from the drive is that OK? (audio on a CD is really only "data"). Finally, if this is a Windows XP system, make sure the "use digital audio" is checked for that drive in the Windows Device Manager - Windows XP uses the digital audio method (via the IDE Ribbon I/O cable), not the older separate analog cable between the drive and the sound card.

Colm Chomicky · Post by **Colm Chomicky** » 15 May 2006 3:43 pm

Jack, Thanks, FYI I got it reversed. It is my DVD/CD drive that is skipping. My read/write CD drive does not skip. The DVD/CD seems tempermental with certain CDs, skipping at generally the same spots. It seems less forgiving if there is the slightest blemish on the CD (i.e.,the same disks don't skip on the CD read/write drive or my other audio equipment.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 May 2006 2:16 am

That seems more like a "weak" laser than a dirty laser, it the laser is really the issue. If the laser was dirty it would be skipping on all discs.

If the CD's that skip have paper labels, that may be the problem. Paper labels are known to "leech" into the CD material and affect the "data" layer.

A DVD burner has a higher intensity (capable of higher intensity) Laser and there may be a hardware problem in the drive.