Screwy Windows CD problem

[imported_browsing]

I've got a 1955-s805 toshiba laptop, which hasn't been able to burn dvds or cds for quite a while. I thought it was the drive but after getting it replaced, it still won't do those things and now it won't even read the majority of cds (it won't read dvds period). I've picked up an external USB dvd-rw drive and it is exibiting the same symptoms. So I think this has to be a software/windows problem. I've now uninstalled all my burning software to no avail. Is there any way I can make sure it is all cleared out or tell windows to re-install whatever system it uses to read from optical drives?

Thanks for any help!

 

[nweaver]

boot an Ubuntu live CD and see if you can burn/read correctly there. That would eliminate h/w for sure, and is an easy first step.

 

[imported_browsing]

That was a good idea. Done and done. Works outside of Windows XP.