Home Remedy For Cleaning A CD Drive On A Laptop

Almost everyone owns a laptop these days. They are used quite often for networking and they are used for entertainment purposes.

Some of the areas of a laptop that require attention occasionally include the CD-ROM and DVD drives. The main reason to clean these areas of your laptop is so that you can avoid dust and dirt build-up that could damage inner workings of your computer.

Instructions

The first step of cleaning the CD or DVD drive is to press the “eject” button and wait for the tray where the disc would sit to slide out. This is of course the open position and this is what you usually would do if you were to open the drive in order to insert a CD or DVD.

Once you have ejected the compact disc or video disk (DVD) tray you should find a way to blow are into it. A nozzle normally used to clean out a baby’s nose might help but a straw may also work.

A power air gun made especially for dusting out the inside of a computer may also come in handy. In any case, short quick blows of air would be best and make sure they are not too powerful.

If you choose to use air from your own mouth be careful not to allow saliva to drip. Otherwise, this moisture could possibly damage the inside of your CD/DVD tray.

After you have completed the dusting stage you can them dampen a soft cloth with warm water. This will help you wring out the excess water from the cloth until it is slightly moist.

After you have wiped the ejected disc tray you can then keep the tray open. Leave it in this position until it is completely air-dried.

You can test your efforts afterwards by inserting a CD or DVD player. You should wait to do this until the tray is completely dry. This will help you ensure that the CD drive is working properly and that the drive is clean.

Troubleshooting Tips

The brief cleaning guide shown above can take care of a majority of your problems. However, this may not be enough to get your CD or DVD drive working the way it should in the future.

You should also consider these tips:

• Check the power level of your laptop. If it reads low then your CD drive may be conditioned to shut off. If this happens plug your laptop into the wall and try the disc drive again.
• The disc itself that you insert may need to be cleaned. It should also ideally be free of scratches. All smudges should be removed as well. Clean it off the best you can and try to read it again.
• You might have to find a way to un-jam your CD drive especially if the disc will not eject or the tray will not open. This may require a little extra effort such as turning your laptop upside down and working from the inside of your laptop to fix the situation.