CD/DVD drive not being read/won't mount

Question

I've looked all over the web and I can't find an answer to my problem. A few days ago when I would insert a CD, it would auto mount, but now for some reason it isn't showing up.

I was using Ubuntu 12.04 when this started happening, then I re-installed 11.10 thinking that would fix it, but it didn't.

I'm pretty sure the drive is being recognized when the computer starts up, but I'm not positive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you need any outputs from commands just let me know.

Solution

See your BIOS setting and check that if your drive still activated. open a terminal and type sudo lshw, this will list your hardware connected

as and example:

*-cdrom
                description: DVD writer
                product: DVD RW DW-Q120A
                vendor: SONY
                physical id: 0.0.0
                bus info: scsi@4:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/cdrom
                logical name: /dev/cdrw
                logical name: /dev/dvd
                logical name: /dev/dvdrw
                logical name: /dev/sr0
                version: PYS3
                capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
                configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

Comments

[Dr_Bunsen]

Does the drive work?

[Spencer]

no when i insert a cd or dvd nothing shows up. im wondering if i have a hardware problem and not a software issue

[Spencer]

unless by "work" you mean does it eject and take in cd's, then yes it works

[Spencer]

it still doesn't work, so i guess it is the hardware. thanks for the help

[Dr_Bunsen]

no problem at all. It sounds like a hardware problem indeed.

[Spencer]

there isnt an option to enable or disable the drive

[DebojyotiMukh]

Check your BIOS documentation