DVD drive spinning constantly, causing heat

[Mr_Cynical]

When I have a disc in my DVD drive on my PCG-K415B, it seems to spin constantly (causing excessive heat after a while, as you can imagine). The only solution to this is to leave the drive open, which is hardly ideal. When the disc is being accessed normally (e.g. if I am playing a game when a game disc is in the drive) it seems to be intermittent, otherwise it is fairly often. How can I fix this? It has only started doing it recently, it is not disc-specific or type-specific (ie both software CDs and movie DVDs are affected) and the hard disc access light is usually on when the disc spins

EDIT: The drive is a Sony DW-D56A, I've tried reinstalling the firmware (I have the latest version already) and that has made no difference.

[seb21__]

strange

Well, lets try whether it's software related.
Do a reboot and press several times F8 button. Start in safe-mode and login as admin.
Then try any disks (music, data, dvd-video). If you still have the same problem, then your drive has a problem. If everything works normal (no constantly spinning) then remember the last software you installed. (It could be the reason of your problem)

[Mr_Cynical]

Thank you for the suggestion - unfortunately I have tried Safe Mode (and a full reset using the Recovery DVD) and the problem is still there - so I am going to buy an external DVD drive. Thanks again.

[apierc1]

Hello, I have the dame drive in my Vaio, it also sonstantly spins when a Disc is in the drive, I'm guessing it's just what that drive does annoyingly so, one of the many faults on these machines.

[frannys]

The read head is constantly searching for a track,the drive could need cleaning,or the drive is failing to read properly.

[jumpsuit]

Is it in warranty?

If not you may be right it would be easier to go with an external burner. I use mine more than the fully operational burner installed in my desktop.