Why doesn't my laptop play the CD?

I recently accidentally bought the mp3 version of the audiobook, which I actually can't hear on my older radio. I then simply threw the CD into the DVD drive of my laptop and was able to hear the audio book without problems for up to half of it. Suddenly it stopped at a strange place and I thought I just had to click on the next file, nothing worked there either. After a while I got the message from my PC that playback was not possible. I then took the CD away (it didn't have a single scratch), closed everything again, opened it again, inserted the CD and thought it would work.

But it didn't, instead I got the message that I should also insert a medium so that I could play something even though the CD was in it. I then tried several times to remove the CD, reinsert it and then tried to listen again. Whatever didn't work out.

I hope I could make it understandable. Can someone help me who knows something like that?

Is this an internal or external DVD drive?

I don't really know anything about this, but I assume that internally it means that it is virtually inside the laptop and externally that it is only wired to the laptop, right? There would be mine internally.

That's exactly the way it is, that's right! 🙂 I understand. Do you have other problems when you play CD's or DVD's via the drive?

No, but that's usually because I don't watch DVDs or CDs or listen to them. I'm still pretty old-fashioned and have no idea about anything like that. As written, I usually buy the normal CD and don't have an audio audiobook.

You can play a music CD as a test and see if there are any problems.

Ok, I'll try that right away.

It rattles for a while and then the drive jumps open again and the laptop spits out the "insert" again and says that I should insert a data carrier.

This suggests that the drive may actually be defective. How old is the PC, which operating system is installed?

I just tried it again, it could have been that the drive is simply too overloaded because I also listened to it for a long time yesterday 🤷 But it still didn't work, so it seems to be really defective. Does it happen so suddenly? So I bought the computer about 6 years ago and it already has a few quirks, but I never actually used the drive as written. I don't know what an operating system is. Can you tell me where I can read that?

The CD can't be read physically. Reading errors increase towards the end and above a certain threshold, they can no longer be corrected and the reading process stops.

Pressing errors in the CD itself or your drive is no longer completely fit.

Test any other CD (MP3 or normal doesn't matter) whether it plays through.

Create a shortcut on the desktop. There you write "winver.exe" (without quotes). If you then start this link, a window opens where the version can be read.

I have already tested another CD, and it doesn't work either.

If I open my desktop and want to create a shortcut with a click of the mouse, this field remains gray and I can't perform this action…

Do you also have a "Run" item at the bottom left when you click on the button there that shuts down Windows?

No I did not…

A PC with 6 years under its belt is actually not quite up to date anymore. And like all everyday objects, signs of wear and aging will become noticeable at some point. This also applies to the drive, regardless of how often you have actually used it. The operating system is therefore probably Windows 7 or 8.

Ok, thanks for knowing yourself so well! I actually only watched a DVD before this CD… Can I still wire my laptop to an external drive?

Yes, that's not a problem at all. I'm assuming that you have multiple USB ports on your device. You simply connect an external DVD drive to one of them. They usually don't cost much, you can get them for around € 10.00 to € 15.00.

OK thanks.

Then the drive is defective.