Home Remedy for Cleaning a CD Drive on a Laptop

Use home remedies to clean laptop CD drives.

Everybody in the whole world, it seems, uses laptop computers for networking, for business, and for entertainment purposes. Like desktop computers, laptop computers have CD-ROM (compact disc read-only-memory) drives, which are capable of playing audio CDs and computer data CDs. Although CD drives rarely require maintenance, they need to be cleaned occasionally to properly read CDs. Dirty compact disc drives also can cause software installation issues or other avoidable problems. You can clean a dirty CD drive on your laptop using home remedies.

Things You'll Need

• Straw
• Soft cloth
• Water
• CD

Instructions

1. Press the button on the laptop that opens the CD drive and ejects the tray. Hold a straw next to the opening of the CD drive.

2. Blow into the straw, using short, quick blows to remove dirt and dust from inside the CD drive. Be careful not to blow saliva and moisture into the CD drive.

3. Dampen a soft cloth with water. Wring out the excess water from the cloth so that the cloth is only slightly moist.

4. Wipe the ejected tray with the slightly moist cloth. Keep the damp tray ejected until it has completely air-dried.

5. Place a CD in the tray once the tray is completely dry. Insert the CD and tray to ensure the CD drive properly reads the CD and is clean.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not insert dirty or scratched CDs in the CD drive; this causes the CD drive to become dirty.

• Keep the laptop away from pets and food to keep the CD drive clean.

References

• Computer Hope: Cleaning the Computer and Its Components
• How to Clean Stuff: How to Clean a CD-ROM Drive
• Computer Hope: CD-ROM