CD-RW/DVD Drive will read DVD but not CD

[tevans]

I have a compaq presario 900 laptop with a H*L Data Storage (Hitachi/LG) CD-RW/DVD Drive and I have the exact same problem. A DVD will play every time no problems, however any cd will not, even cd's I have used in the past will no longer play. When inserted it makes clicking sounds like it is tring to read it but after 30 sec or so it just stops. When I click on the drive it does not show a disc is there, just nothing. I've had this prob for over a year and am getting frustrated...aaarrrhhh:confused: . I asumed the drive was bad so I bought a new one (identical) but it did the same exact thing. This would logicly suggest that its not a hardware prob. Driver says its up to date, diagnostics show everything is installed and working properly. Any help would be appreciated. I also deleted the high and low filters in the registry, that did not change anything. Problem possibly started after reloading Roxio 5.0 but not sure.:D

[ski]

See if doing a system restore to a date that precedes the Roxio reload fixes things.
If not, then there may be a problem either with the drive's data cable(if the same cable was used for the old & new drives), or with the IDE connection.

[Sylvander]

I would suggest using a FREE "Knoppix Linux Live CD" and using its CD playing/burning capability, but I guess you don't have 2 CD-drives [needed because the live CD needs one (a reader) and the CD to be played/burned needs the other (a burner)].

However...
You might try what I'm trying right now.
I installed a Linux distro as a dual boot; "Mandriva Linux FREE 2007" in fact.
I've just been testing K3b to burn a "Knoppix Linux Live CD" to a CD-RW disk [from the iso file in a folder on a partition on my external USB 2.0 HDD][just completed] and before that I copied the "Knoppix Linux Live CD" to CD-RW, and then erased it.
And the whole lot is FREE! :D :cool:
I'm typing this using Firefox within Mandriva. :)

If such a system above works for you then you'll know there's nothing whatever wrong with anything [except the Windows environment].

Once you have an alternative system working, you may or may not think it worth the time and effort to fix the Windows functionality. [Always good to have a "Plan B"]