Windows 10: Persistent issues with reading optical media drive

I've been having persistent issues with my optical media (bluray/cd/dvd) drive that I believe at present to be software/windows based. The drive used to work fine, until recently.


On startup, the drive appears in "This PC" as normal. If there's no disk inserted, it appears as "BD-RE Drive (D" as expected. If there's a disk inserted on boot, or if one is then inserted after boot, it correctly reads the disk type - i.e., in This PC, it then changes to "BD-RE Drive (D Audio CD" (while showing below "0 bytes free of 0 bytes; CDFS"). This can be opened to show, for example, each song file on the CD.


The problem comes when attempting to access any media on the device. Whichever software is used (i.e. default windows software, VLC, etc), the software loads the basic details (i.e. song names, length, album art), and then bugs out, either refusing to play at all, or playing the first half second or so of each song before skipping to the nest. At the same time as this happens, any attempt to open the disk now returns "D:\ Application not found," rather than the contents of the disk. Usually, but not always, the disk still shows up exactly the same under This PC - other times, it disappears entirely, both there, and all drivers become hidden in device manager.


Speaking of device manager, other than that above exception case (which occurs, I'd estimate, about 1 in 10 attempts), the driver shows up normally there, active, and up to date. Running update on it shows it is up to date. Very oddly, even while This PC is denying that the drive is connected with "application not found," if I go to the "volumes" tab in driver properties and hit "populate," it still correctly populates the details of the inserted CD.


Ejecting the drive by right clicking and selecting "eject" can also still be done when the device is supposedly not found. Closing it resets this case same as a reboot does, most of the time, except sometimes it makes the drive disappear entirely.


Troubleshooting I have done includes:

>Uninstalling the device, rebooting

>Attempting to manually update drivers

>Running Windows startup repair in an attempt to fix any registry issues

>Running Windows updater

>Downloading drive manufacturer firmware and driver updaters, running them.

>Switching to a brand new SATA cable, and a confirmed functioning SATA port on the motherboard


I'm thinking it's a software issue because 1) I've ruled out most possible hardware issues, 2) the disk itself is clearly being read at least initially and 3) even while the device is supposedly not found, things like "volumes" populating and the eject function working show the drive as a whole is clearly still connected.


There is exactly ONE thing I have found that lets me actually access the media - if, when the machine is ON, I unplug the SATA from the optical drive, and reinsert it, THEN it works fine. Plays music, whole songs, whole albums, etc. On reboot, it all resets, though, back to not working.


Any help anyone can offer would be deeply appreciated. I've about run out of Google results that actually have answers. Thank you!

:)

 

PC does not boot when optical drive is connected, boots normally when optical drive is not connected in Windows 10.

Hello,



Thank you for posting on Microsoft Community. We will assist you in resolving the issue.



Method 1: You are facing this issue due to the non-updated device drivers. I suggest you to update the device drivers from device manager by following the steps below and check if the issue is resolved.

• 
  Press Windows logo + X keys on the keyboard, select
  Device Manager.
  
• 
  Expand DVD/CD ROM drives, right click on the driver and select
  Update option.
  
• 
  Follow the on-screen instructions.
  
• 
  Close the window and check if the changes are effective.
  

Method 2: If the issue persists, I suggest you to download and install the latest drivers for the optical drive from the device manufacturer’s website which is compatible to Windows 10 operating system and check if the
issue is resolved.



Write to us with the status of the issue on the same post for further assistance. Your reply is most important for us to ensure we assist you accordingly.



Thank you.

 

Optical Drive missing

Hello,

To find Optical Drive, we recommend checking it on Device Manager. Here are the steps below:

• Press Windows key.
• Type and click Device Manager in Cortana search box.
• Click View.
• Select Show hidden devices.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Optical Drive

Hi ERNESTSMITHVM,

Boot into BIOS/UEFI and check that the Optical drive is listed there, if it is not then the Acer Tech has somehow not connected that drive correctly . . .

Otherwise, in Windows , open Device Manager - is hat drive listed at the top of the Hardware list?