DVD drive under Vista- Does not register discs

Upon upgrading to Windows Vista my DVD-RW drive stopped functioning. It appears in my device manager just fine, and opens and closes on demand, is read at startup and everything, but it does not recognize any discs anymore. Brand new audio CD's, DVD's, nothing registers. After inserting a disc , the computer seems to try to read it briefly, then tells me there is no disc in the tray.

My drivers are up to date according to Vista as well. The device is called

LITE-ON DVDRW SHM-165H6S ATA Device

Anyone have any ideas of how to proceed?

 

I had that very same problem.

It was dirty.

 

The lens was dirty or something? I guess that WOULD explain things....is there a way to clean it or should I just invest in a new drive? Money is a little tight at the moment so I'm trying to stretch my bucks.

 

Well, what I did was installed Vista, and started having random read issues, then no reading at all.

I took canned air and blew it into the inside of the drive.

I've been reading like a champ ever since.

 

So blow air into it, like with an old NES cartridge huh? I'll try it with some compressed air, thanks for the tip.

 

Good luck.

My theory is that dust settles on the laser.

Hopefully you have the same results, as I was quite frustrated as well.