CD/DVD Drive not usable

Greetings, and thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have about the following: on my Dell APS 200 desktop, which has worked just fine, thank you, for lo these many months, suddenly the d:/ drive, the CD RW/DVD drive (NEC CD-RW/DVD), no longer recognizes any types of discs put in it. I see the drive in My Computer. I can open Properties, the correct hardware information is there and Properties tells me the drive is working properly. The drive appears in the Device Manager. However, put a disc in the thing, be it software, audio disc, jukebox disc, data disc, it does not mount. I get a white arrow with a little disc icon next to it for awhile, then it goes away and there ain't nothin' happenin' nohow.

Frustrating. I have used this drive to play music, run software, burn CDs, watch DVDs. I can think of nothing in the recent past that may have affected it. I do download Microsoft's updates, but can't remember anything untoward of late that may have contributed to the problem.

I will be extremely appreciative for any thoughts or ideas. For diagnostic purposes, DLA is enabled, CD Recording is enabled.

Thanks.