How to fix my CD -RW?

Question

Dear Sir or Madam,

Up until this year (2004) I have not had any problems loading any software from my CD ROM drive. I could load any cd with no problem. Now nothing will load from my CD drive. I am now trying to load my Turbo Tax software with no luck. It keeps opening up to windows media player. A message comes up stating: Windows cannot find wmployer.exe. This program is needed for opening file of type 'AudioCD'. Location of wmplayer.exe: C:/

Previously, I did have real-player and media-player both installed, but I uninstalled them, I think, because I thought that they were the problem.

Can you help me to get my CDROM drive back in order so that I can load on my Turbo Tax?

Thank you very much,

Tom Gaskill

cedarisland@comcast.net

Answer

This question was answered on December 27, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

Well, there are a few things that could be happening. The first thing is to make sure the CD is recognized by the drive and in there correctly. For example, some drives have a hard time recognizing CD-RW or CD-R disks. If you use a different type of CD, like an extended capability disk or a multi-session one from a CD-R, you may have troubles. the first thing would be to eject the disk and then put it back. Sometimes this handles problems. Also, if you have one of those unlabeled CD's, make sure it is not in there upside down. If needed, try a different CD and see if it still happens. If this isn't the problem, and you've double-checked the configuration (cables, master/slave setting), then it may be a drive problem. In this case, you can test on another machine or try another drive. A CD-ROM repair can be done, but it is probably cheaper to just buy a new one.

Author

Posted by Kareem of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on December 27, 2004