Hello. My windows vista CD-ROM used to work a while ago. Now it isn't working 1/4 the time. Im not the only one with this problem seemingly. Ive been to multiple threads trying to find a cure but this is with no luck.Alot of people say they have a solution but none of them work for all the people.
Ive tried upper and lower filter solution, holding eject button in while turning on and then turning off computer, seeing if there was a short in one of the cords in the computer, my friend also says that a virus could have "fried" the CDROM to not working, but i want an experts opinion.

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Answer from Richard Rost:

Wesley, it's almost impossible for software to damage hardware. I doubt a virus would have "fried" your drive.

The bottom line is that hardware components will ALL eventually fail. The average life of a CD-ROM drive is about 5 to 7 years.

In all honesty, it's NOT worth the time and effort to troubleshoot the problem. I would pull the drive out and if you have another computer there, you could test the drive in that PC - or test another drive in your PC. That should definitively tell you whether or not the drive is dead.

I wouldn't spend more than half an hour futzing with it, though. You can get a replacement drive for under $40.