by Jade Stephen

Created on: March 23, 2010

                One of the most frustrating things that can ever happen to a gamer is putting in a disk and finding that it is “unreadable.” Sometimes this can happen right away, others you can play a game for hours only to find that there is now an impassable section quickly bringing your gaming to a halt. Whatever the case, There are a few methods to troubleshoot this issue, and a few good ways to fix and avoid it.

                First and foremost take care of your disks. If you take it out of the system, put it away in its proper case. If you get finger prints on the readable surface, use a soft cloth to take the oil away. NEVER leave a disk face up on the top of a console, however tempting it may be to rush to your next game. A little common sense goes a long way in preserving your investment.

                If your system begins producing unreadable disk errors, the first thing you should do is look at your disk’s readable surface (the shiny silver part that goes face down). Is it scratched? Is there any dirt or oil on the surface? If there is, this is probably the easiest issue with disk reading you could have. For oil/dirt problems simply purchase a soft cloth. These cloths are soft on surfaces such as monitors and CDs and can be used to clean them with little worry. They will remove the dirt or oil in moments leaving your disk shiny again.

                If the issue appears to be a scratch, there are a few common repair methods. Some of these solutions are slightly riskier than the others; however they have all been proven to work when employed properly. For instance, in the case of minor scratches, nail polish remover will often do the trick, the chemicals melting the grooves back together.  Another old trick is painting the bottom of the disk with clear nail polish, giving the reading laser a smooth surface to work with.  This being said, the easiest and most secure way to fix a CD is to have it refinished. Bring the game to a local game shop or even a blockbuster. It generally takes about 10 minutes, and costs under $5. They have machines which will remove the bottom plastic from the disk and replace it with new plastic.

                Use some common sense to find the best solution for your problem and you will be back to gaming in no time!

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