cd drive won't work

[imported_alp]

ok, it's an old fujitsu siemens computer. worked fine until a while ago.

(not really relevant, but)
p4 williamette 1.7ghz
DFI NB70-SC (i845)
256mb pc133
gf2-mx400 64mb
samsung 60gb hd
some CD-RW/DVD combo drive
xp home

now, the cd drive will not work. it does not find a disk in the drive. it will not burn with ms drag+drop burn thing. will burn fine in nero (it says) but the cd produced doesn't work. checked all the connections inside and it's fine. device manager says it's fine. there is no newer driver for it.

what do i try now?

 

[meltdown75]

try different media. i have seen cases where low-quality burned CDs were coasters, but on the same drive, slightly better quality media turned out ok. Of course now I have a TDK VeloCD burner and it has never produced a coaster. Other than than, I'd get it cleaned. You'd be surprised how finicky it can get with a bit of dust inside. I've huffed and puffed and blew a big gust inside an open bezel before, and lo and behold the drive worked fine after. Dust sucks!

edit: btw i would try the burned CD in another drive, on another system - to be sure it "didn't work".

 

[Souka]

So you have a single optical drive.... a CD-RW/DVD unit......if I read this right.....

When you burn a CD in Nero, does the status light blink(indicating burn in process?)

It sure sounds like a dead burner..... can u take it out and try it in another computer?
or borrow someone else's burner.

 

[imported_alp]

have tried burned cd in several computers. this is not my main computer, this is an old one i am trying to get going again
will try dust.
single optical drive.
have tried various 'official' cds (i.e. not burned by me), used the wc3 tft disk and a few others...
will try the cd again for the light, but i dont really like to waste too many disks.
and will swap things around if necessary, i can grab the burner from either my main computer or the old p3 system that i never use