Recalcitrant DVD Drive in old Dell Desktop

[BobH]

Today was appointed to be the day that I "fixed" my wife's laptop. (I'll leave it up to you to guess who made the appointment. )

So far, I've fixed bad POP and SMTP server addresses and got the email client working again. I also found and ordered a replacement USB receiver (that was damaged when she moved the computer) for her Logitech mouse.

The final 'appointment' is to load the Home User version of Office 2010 on the computer. I have the backup CD and the product key. The problem is that the DVD drive doesn't seem to recognize that it is loaded. (see Speccy result in pic).

I'm stumped. (If truth were told, I'm just old and can't clear the cobwebs as well as I once could.) Can someone please suggest steps to take to get this drive to recognize that media is loaded? I promise! I DID insert the disk before and after running Speccy. The drive shows up in MyComputer devices but it doesn't read the disk. The green light comes on indicating that it is spinning up the disk, but no joys.

????

[HansV]

Have you tested whether the drive "sees" other DVDs?

[BobH]

I think you are on to something, Hans!

The drive read a Samsung monitor setup disk and an audio CD. What puzzles me is that I have read this disk on the other desktop in the house but it will not read on this one.

??
**************

I took the DVD back to the other desktop and it loaded there. This indicates to me that there is nothing wrong with the media.

Why would a drive recognize some media but not others?

[HansV]

CD / DVD drives in computers can be rather finicky. If the data side of the DVD contains fingerprints etc., you might (carefully!) clean it with a soft, slightly damp cloth.
And sometimes the disk "takes" after a few tries - probably because of a tiny difference of the disk's position in the tray...

[Leif]

To get round the problem, you could copy the CD/DVD contents onto a USB stick at the desktop, then load it onto the laptop and run it from there.