How can I fix a drive I/O error?

Question

I have a windows XP MCE PC but when I insert some disks I get this message: D:\ is not accessible, the task could not be performed because of a Drive I/O error.

I think it has something to do with my lens.

If that's likely then can I fix this with something like this http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=21235762&searchString=CD%20lense%20cleaner&category_Id=null ? If I can't what could I use?

Or if it isn't the lens what is it, and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

As you say it is the lens then you are on about a CD or DVD drive? Try removing and then reseating the IDE Ribbon cable on both the board end and the device end. If it is a single cable for both the HD and CD then just at the device end will do. You can try swapping the IDE ribbon cable with another one if you have one if the cable reseating does not work. Failing that you can try and upgrade the firmware on the drive (though with an I/O error already this is not recommended) but the simple answer is buy a new drive, it will be faster and better performing than your old one and they are cheap to buy and easy to fit.

The I/O error itself is an Input Output error, that basically means that the data transfer is not happening properly, a cable is the likely culprit or drive motor failure, the latter means a new drive.

The cleaning disc wont solve your problems, the error message would have been along the lines of "cant read from disc" or Dics error" not I/O errors.

Answer 2

I doubt that you can fix a lens problem.

Take Windows out of the equation; boot from some other bootable CD (such as your Windows installation CD or a free LiveCD ( http://www.knoppix.com ); if the system boots from this CD, you know the drive is working properly; if it does not boot from the CD, you know the drive has a problem; you're probably best off in that case just replacing the drive (they're fairly cheap for desktops; laptop drives might be a bit more expensive).