Sound distortion/muffling when playing or ripping CDs with HP G72-b20SA Notebook PC

[domgriff]

Hi, 

I have a problem with my HP and it is totally mystifying. I have a large music collection and copy my CDs with Itunes. Very occasionally I copy a CD which copies fine but the playback is distorted or muffled - but usually only for the first two songs. Sometimes the entire album's playback is distorted, but when I re-copy the CD only the first two songs are distorted and Itunes copies the rest fine. When I use Itunes I always select 'Error correction' and this makes no difference to the distorted playback. I always use the latest version of Itunes.

If I play the CD that won't copy without distortion normally, in the DVD drive, then whether I play the CD via VLC, Itunes or Windows Media Player the distortion is present - this is not the copied version - but direct playback from the disk. If I take the CD and copy it or play it on another computer then it is fine - the distortion is gone. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the DVD drive, the Realtek Audio device and the IDE/ATA controller - nothing makes any difference. The CDs are in perfect condition, scratch free and most of the time I have no problem with ripping them in Itunes and playing them. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next? I am thinking of buying an external DVD drive but still don't know where the problem might be located. I keep thinking it must be a software conflict but the problem is inconsistent and seemingly has no pattern. And usually it is only the first two songs which are muffled - the rest play back fine.    

[domgriff]

I borrowed an external HP DVD drive from a friend and it plays and imports the same CD perfectly so it must be that the DVD is faulty. I phoned HP and, as I still have some warranty left, they are going to replace the optical drive. 

Alternatively you can buy a new optical drive on Ebay for US$40 and replace it.