Often have problems recognising DVD- fault of drive or securom?

[Karklos]

On my old pc I often had problems wher my computer refused to recognise a disk in the drive.

I used to think that this was due to drm- the games installed fine but after installation the disk would be be recognised.

I have in the past been forced to use nocd patches, for the likes of Rome tw, civ4 and football manager to try and avoid this.

I have just bought a new top spec computer, but kept the old DVd drive, and the problem is still occuring, I am now wondering if It is my old drive that is at fault?
I have just tried to run gta4. It installed ok but when I try to play the game 99/100 tties (literally) the disk is not recognised. I tried uninstalling, but now the computer won't even recognise the disk to re- install.

Could the problems stem from my 5 year old dvd drive?

[erasmus777]

On my old pc I often had problems wher my computer refused to recognise a disk in the drive.

I used to think that this was due to drm- the games installed fine but after installation the disk would be be recognised.

I have in the past been forced to use nocd patches, for the likes of Rome tw, civ4 and football manager to try and avoid this.

I have just bought a new top spec computer, but kept the old DVd drive, and the problem is still occuring, I am now wondering if It is my old drive that is at fault?
I have just tried to run gta4. It installed ok but when I try to play the game 99/100 tties (literally) the disk is not recognised. I tried uninstalling, but now the computer won't even recognise the disk to re- install.

Could the problems stem from my 5 year old dvd drive?

What about non-games disks? Or a blank dvd? Movie? If it's your dvd drive, it will likely have trouble will all of these.

[Karklos]

No cd's and DVD's run fine.

It would typically be ok with game installation but then have trouble recognising afterwards.

This would suggest it was the securom no?

Nevertheless I have heard that the problem is often cleared up with a new drive, so I am going to try buying a new drive today.

[Taiji]

I think GTA 4 has problems with anti-piracy software, if I remember right. Easier to say this than google it...

[Karklos]

I bought a new drive and it seems to have fixed the problem. I still don't undersdBd hy my old driv could read the DVD for the installation but not to run the game?

Still my old drive was so old that it was IDE, nice to get rid of the ribbon for the sake of cable
management!