DVD/CD Drive not working on Satellite L55

Question

I have a Satellite L55 laptop with DVD/CD drive that I've used successfully to burn CDs in the past. Yesterday, I tried to view a DVD given to me by a friend and all it did was click and nothing happened. No error message other than telling me there was no DVD in the drive.
This morning, I put in a CD and same thing happened. You can hear the drive whirr a bit but then there are little repeated clicking noises and nothing. iTunes told me to put in a blank CD (the CD shows as blank in other drives), and if I look at Windows Explorer, it tells me to put in a DVD.
I've taken a quick look at the driver and it tells me that everything is working properly. If I tell Windows (8.1) to update the driver, it tells me it's the latest driver.
As far as I know, nothing has happened physically to the drive, beyond being opened accidentally on occasion when moving the laptop since the open button just happens to be in the right position for that to happen when you lift up the laptop.
Any ideas as to what I can try to do to see if the drive is truly dead before attempting to replace it?
Thanks,
Marie

Answer 1

Always post your full model and operating system.
run the microsoft fix-it to correct the problem for you the page is here - http://support.microsoft.com/mats/cd_dvd_drive_problems/
Or here is the tool - http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9740811
Diagnose and repair CD or DVD drive issues, when you cannot burn or play CD or DVD discs, when a drive is not found, not accessible or not connected.
Run now
Advanced-Download to run on a different or disconnected computer
Click Download below, then click Run or Open in your browser and follow the onscreen prompts to create the Fix it Portable folder
Then copy the Fix it Portable folder to the computer with the problem and run the Launch Fix it application
Download
What it fixes
Your CD or DVD Drive does not read or write and is shown as disabled
The media in your CD or DVD drive cannot be read
The media cannot be written to by your CD or DVD drive
You receive one of the following errors:
A class specific or device specific driver is missing or corrupt
A CD or DVD drive cannot be found or is not connected
The CD or DVD drive is experiencing a problem that prevents it from working properly
The CD or DVD drive is not accessible via an assigned drive letter
Runs on
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2
Microsoft Windows XP
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Vista
Windows 8
Windows 8.1
S70-ABT2N22 Windows 7 Pro & 8.1Pro, C55-A5180 Windows 8.1****Click on White “Kudos” STAR to say thanks!****