After more than 2 years, my CD/DVD ROM drive (Sony DDU 1613) will not recognize any kind of disc when inserted. The drive cycles and seeks, but nothing happens. I have Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2. Device Manager says that the device is working properly. I have uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled with no change. Windows Explorer recognizes the drive, but when I attempt to read the disc, I get a message to insert a disc in the drive. I don't know if this is a software or hardware problem.

Hi and welcome to PCHF!

Well.. unfortunatley it sounds like your drive is dead. However we can try a few things first and hope that's not the case. Open up your case and make sure that the parallel cable connecting to the drive is connected to the drive and the motherboard. If it is, then you might want to take it off, get a can of air, and blow off the dust.

Hope this helps,
Adam

I had already checked the cables but had not cleaned it. I have now done that and no change. It still appears not to recognize that a disc is in the drive. Any further suggestions?