Vista Won't Read CDs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carole
  • Start date Start date
C

Carole

I have a lot of misc. cds that a friend who passed away made. They are pics
& music mostly. Some slide shows too but I can't get them to open anywhere.
I told his wife I'd go through them but impossible if my computer won't read
them. I believe most of them were made on XP and I have Vista. Called
Gateway but they didn't know. I tried a couple on an HP with XP and they all
were read. Does anyone know if this is a Vista problem or is it my computer?
My warranty is up in May so I'm hoping if it's the computer I'll have time
to get it fixed under warranty.

Many Thanks :)
 
If CD's were successfuly read on an HP, this would mean that your drive is
faulty.
Recordable CD's (at least some of them) are known to be forgetful and to be
loosing data unexpectedly. I would recommend you to buy a USB hard disk.
They are not too expensive and you can cary them everywhere around. Get
those CD's to those places where you can read them successfuly and copy them
to USB hard drive. A small freeware program may come handy. This is
available at http://www.imgburn.com and can be used to write ISO images of
your CD's to a USB hard drive.
 
measekite said:
Download a LivdCD of either Ubuntu Linux or fedora Linux. Install by dual
boot. Now if these are MP3 files you will need to download and install
codec that can handle mp3. It is all free. All of the software for Linux
is free forever. It runs better, is more secure, and you will have a
better experience.
Click to expand...

There has to be an easier and subjective way to remedy the situation.
After all, we are in a 'Vista' group.

Harry.
 
measekite said:
Download a LivdCD of either Ubuntu Linux or fedora Linux. Install by dual
boot. Now if these are MP3 files you will need to download and install
codec that can handle mp3. It is all free. All of the software for Linux
is free forever. It runs better, is more secure, and you will have a
better experience.
Click to expand...

Hey dipshit, did you even read the post? He doesn't need to complicate
life by installing an inferior product. Linux/Ubuntu is FREE and NOBODY
wants it. What a ****ed up response.
 
Dusko Savatovic said:
Recordable CD's (at least some of them) are known to be forgetful and to be
loosing data unexpectedly.
Click to expand...

Oh, MAN! There's nothing more annoying than having loose data.
 
It would really be useful if you would tell us the file suffixes. IE
filename.mov or whatever.
Slide shows usually require a compatable viewer. The suffix can give an idea
of what might be appropriate.
Music and video files as well as picture files have several different
formats. A free viewer that will display most picture formats (and some
others as well) is IrfanViewer. (Freeware, downloadable)
Vista does not include some of the codecs that were in XP. There are
various downloadable codecs and players that more or less make up the
difference. Again, the file suffix will determine what is appropriate.
 
XP or Vista shouldn't matter, it's a question of having the necessary CODECs
and filters to open the files and most of those are from 3rd parties.

VLC (VideoLan), a freeware video player that will play almost any video file
without requiring you to install extra CODECs.

IrfanView, a freeware image (and other filetypes) viewer that will display
almost any type of image file.

If neither of these can see or open the files on those discs then you might
have a hardware problem. Optical drives (and floppies) can drift out of
alignment over time so it might just be that either yours or the drive the
discs were created on is misaligned to the extent that your computer cannot
read those discs while a different computer can still access the files on
them.
 
If they open on one machine and not another, there are several
possiblilties.
1) The Vista machine does not have the proper software for the file types.
What are the file types? (wav, jpg, gif, mp3, mpeg)
Put the CD in the drive, open Computer, right click and explore the CD
drive. If the files are visible, look at the extension type (you may need to
change the folder>view settings and uncheck 'hide extensions for known file
types')
Once you know the file type, you can search Google (or any search engine of
your choice) to find a program to view them.

2) The CD read head in the Vista machine is dirty or damaged. Do other CDs
work in that drive?
If not, you can get the CD drive replaced under warranty and/or get an
external USB drive to read them.
 
measekite said:
Download a LivdCD of either Ubuntu Linux or fedora Linux. Install by dual
boot. Now if these are MP3 files you will need to download and install
codec that can handle mp3. It is all free. All of the software for Linux
is free forever. It runs better, is more secure, and you will have a
better experience.
Click to expand...

Oh gosh, I'm clueless here. I don't even know what a dual boot is. I can
tell you that I have both MP3s & MVA in my media center that work just fine.
These cds might be a mix of pics & music. I'm just not sure.

I got just one of the cds to open. It was all pics of his family but I
didn't get a pop up the way I did in XP asking me which program I wanted to
use. I just stuck the cd in & opened my media center & the pics were there.
I'm completely confused.
 
Dusko Savatovic said:
If CD's were successfuly read on an HP, this would mean that your drive is
faulty.
Click to expand...

But the HP had XP & Gateway told me they didn't know what's wrong! (big
surprise) Maybe I need to call Micosoft?
Recordable CD's (at least some of them) are known to be forgetful and to
be loosing data unexpectedly. I would recommend you to buy a USB hard
disk. They are not too expensive and you can cary them everywhere around.
Get those CD's to those places where you can read them successfuly and
copy them to USB hard drive. A small freeware program may come handy. This
is available at http://www.imgburn.com and can be used to write ISO images
of your CD's to a USB hard drive.
Click to expand...

But it's not lost if XP can read it. Sorry I'm so computer stupid! LOL I'm
really trying to figure this out. :)
 
Chuck said:
It would really be useful if you would tell us the file suffixes. IE
filename.mov or whatever.
Click to expand...

That's the problem, I don't know them. I'm just trying to do this to save
the work of a friend who passed away for his wife. I know some are MP3s and
some are slide shows. There are also pictures that I would imagine are jpegs
but if i can't open them I don't know.

Slide shows usually require a compatable viewer. The suffix can give an
idea of what might be appropriate.
Click to expand...

I can play slide shows in my media center. I sent some from my old computer
(XP) over here & they work just fine. So does my music. It's just these
$%^&^& cds that won't work. I'm beginning to suspect that since he made them
using XP that Vista won't read them.
Music and video files as well as picture files have several different
formats. A free viewer that will display most picture formats (and some
others as well) is IrfanViewer. (Freeware, downloadable)
Vista does not include some of the codecs that were in XP. There are
various downloadable codecs and players that more or less make up the
difference. Again, the file suffix will determine what is appropriate.
Click to expand...

Tearing my hair out here! :))
 
NotEvenMe said:
If they open on one machine and not another, there are several
possiblilties.
1) The Vista machine does not have the proper software for the file types.
What are the file types? (wav, jpg, gif, mp3, mpeg)
Put the CD in the drive, open Computer, right click and explore the CD
drive. If the files are visible, look at the extension type (you may need
to change the folder>view settings and uncheck 'hide extensions for known
file types')
Once you know the file type, you can search Google (or any search engine
of your choice) to find a program to view them.
Click to expand...

Gateway had me do that. The cd didn't show up there. I didn't do the hide
extensions though, I'll try that. :)
2) The CD read head in the Vista machine is dirty or damaged. Do other CDs
work in that drive?
Click to expand...

My cds work, even the ones I burned on my XP. That's why this is so
puzzling.
If not, you can get the CD drive replaced under warranty and/or get an
external USB drive to read them.
Click to expand...

I think the $%^& thing is broken!!! :))
 
That's the problem, I don't know them. I'm just trying to do this to
Click to expand...


The reason you do not know them is Microsoft thinks their users are stupid
and hides information from them so when you open my computer you do not
see them. Find out how to change the preferences so they are displayed.
It goes like this and it is easy. Lets say you file a file that is called
music. The full filename that you do not see is music.mp3 or music.jpg.
The extension ( the last 3 letters after the period conveys the file
format or the way the file is saved. music.jpg is called a jpeg file and
is usually opened and used by a photo program and view like something you
would take with your digital camera. music.mp3 is a file that needs an
mp3 codec (a program that can read mp3 formatted files). If you do not
have the proper codec installed on your system you will not be able to
read it. Most likely there is a very high probability that NOTHING is
wrong with your hard drive or computer hardware. The issue is vista and
may be the lack of the proper codec.

One way to find out is take another cd that has mp3 files on it (assuming
the cd you want to listen to is mp3) and see if it works. If it does not
then there is a high probability that is your issue. If the other cd
works then the issue is with this particular cd media.
..
 
Gateway had me do that. The cd didn't show up there. I didn't do the hide
extensions though, I'll try that. :)

My cds work, even the ones I burned on my XP. That's why this is so
puzzling.
Click to expand...

No it is not. If you burn a CD and it plays in your car or some place
other than a computer it is probably in orange book format (a standard cd
format) and the cd that is giving you problems is maybe in mp3 format.
You need to find out.
 
It depends on what program he used to burn the files to CD.
It could have been any of a dozen or more burning programs available.
That is why knowing the file extension may help.
If you put the CD back in the XP machine, can you see the extensions?
You may need to unhide the extensions from tools>folder options>view
 
Carol

There could be a few reasons for this issue. You need to know with which program
those CD's were written with and were they closed off. Some CD writing programs a
proprietary and you need the same to open them and see\read them

Also see the following

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939052/en-us

Please let us know how you made out
 
Carole said:
I have a lot of misc. cds that a friend who passed away made. They are pics
& music mostly. Some slide shows too but I can't get them to open anywhere.
I told his wife I'd go through them but impossible if my computer won't read
them. I believe most of them were made on XP and I have Vista. Called
Gateway but they didn't know. I tried a couple on an HP with XP and they all
were read. Does anyone know if this is a Vista problem or is it my computer?
My warranty is up in May so I'm hoping if it's the computer I'll have time
to get it fixed under warranty.

Many Thanks :)
Click to expand...

This is not a Vista vs XP issue.
If you cannot read anything off these CD then it is either;
1: Your CD drive is defective. Can you read any other CD's in your drive? If not have the drive replaced. If so, the
2: The originator of the CD's may not have closed the CD so that they can be read on "any other computer" if which case you have to go back to the computer they were burned on and set them up to be "closed". Nero InCD and Roxio software could be set to leave the disk open.
 
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