I have bought a slim external USB CD/DVD Drive (read and write) for my W8.1 TABLET.  It  is recognised in Devices with an appropriate icon, the light comes on, the tray opens and a disc can be inserted, there are no error messages, the Troubleshooter does not detect any problems (eg. with the Driver, as it did on another Drive for which this one is a replacement) yet I cannot get it to play, whatever disc (CD or DVD, music, computer files) I insert.  When I click on open or play in a menu (eg.a mouse right click) it ejects the disc (as does eject).

Neither Windows Media Player or VLC recognise the Drive's existence or list the disc's contents or play any of the songs on a music disc.  There is quite a lot of bleeping from the Driver but no sound from any disc.

IT is some years since I used a CD/DVD Drive and I am wondering if there is some basic procedure I have overlooked?  Can anyone give advice, please?

Clayto2Some things are not perfectly USB compliant. You may have to use an external power supply with he CD/DVD player. It may be taking the limit of power that comes out of the USB port. The limit is 500 MA.   If the drive goes bit over that for more that a fraction of a second, the port shouts down.

Is this drive powered by the USB port?  It is possible the power output of your tablet isn't sufficient to fully run the drive.

-MalekeHi

You WOULD need a powered USB hub to get enough power for the DVD drive.
Also can you please try using a pen drive on the tablet and see if you can open and run say a movie or music.
If it works with a pen drive it should work with a DVD drive attached via a powered hub Hello

Thanks for the various suggestions.  Here is an update:

My faulty CD/DVD Drive has been replaced by the supplier.  The second Drive behaves quite differently to the Drive it replaced yet  is still not working.  It  is recognised in Devices with an appropriate icon, the light comes on, the tray opens and a disc can be inserted, there are no error messages, the Troubleshooter does not detect any problems (eg. with the Driver, as it did on the other Drive) yet I cannot get it to play, whatever disc (CD or DVD, music, computer files) I insert.  When I click on open or play in a menu (eg.a mouse right click) it ejects the disc (as does eject).

Neither Windows Media Player or VLC recognise the Drive's existence or list the disc's contents or play any of the songs on a music disc.  There is quite a lot of bleeping from the Driver but no sound from any disc.

Like the first Drive the new one has a second USB cable / socket to supply additional current if it is necessary (other users of the same Drive say they have not found it necessary.  My Tablet seems quite happy running 3 or 4 Flash / Pen Drives from an unpowered hub.)  I am afraid the manufacturer's name is unknown, there is just a reference in Properties to 'a standard CD device'.

It is some years since I used a CD/DVD Drive and I was wondering if there is some basic procedure I have overlooked but I cannot think what it could be, I have tried everything I can think of.  I had hoped to try it on my WXP Laptop but unfortunately I found that the CD / DVD Driver has got corrupted, it shows up in Devices with (from memory) a yellow ! MARK and the Troubleshooter says it is faulty.  I uninstalled the Driver and reinstalled it but the result was the same.  The Driver for the XP will be quite old but I have a file with a host of up-to-date Drivers for the XP but I dont know how to tell which one is for the CD / DVD or how to INSTALL it ---- can someone advise on that?

Clayto2h

 Correction.: the manufacturer etc of the Drive is MatshitauJ-840D. I just going to do a search for that.

ClaytoI had never heard of Matshitau but there is plenty about them on WWW, and Drivers to download for the-840D.  Would you advise me to try installing that?  The firm seems to be associated with / possibly taken over by Panasonic.

ClaytoJust for the record I have learned that Matshitau is the original name of Panasonic, it is the founder's family name.  Anyway, I am sending the Drive back to the vendor for a refund, having tried everything I could to get it going.

Clayto For the record I never did get that CD/DVD Drive to work, even had a tech working REMOTELY to install new Driver (he concluded the one I already had, supplied by MS, was the best available.  Both the Drives have been returned for s full refund.  No problems.  I have ordered a Samsung replacement ---- I do hope that is OK as if not the fault may lie in the computer,

Clayto2