Superdrive reading DVDs only -not CD/CD-ROMs

hi folks. I've got a late 2005 Dual 2.5 PowerPC G5. Recently i thought my combo DVD/CD-Rom drive (the standard that came with the model) had gone kaput. It kept ejecting every audio or CD-ROM disc i would try to load. So in an effort to see if it was just becoming fussy in its old age, i went through many discs, and finally noticed that DVDs would load just fine. Zero problems at all with DVDs. But for some stupid reason absolutely NO audio or CDROMs will load. Im perplexed.
I dont see how this could be a hardware issue, but if so please point it out. Can't seem to find any utilities that might run a diagnosis on it
The drive is a SONY DVD RW DW-U21A and until recently have never had any reading or writing problems. I updated to Tiger 10.4.11 just to see if maybe a system software update might fix it. No success.
so then, does anyone out there have any clue what might be causing this? Honestly i was about to accept the fact that it had just come to its natural end and buy a new one, but with this new discovery of DVDs reading perfectly, im a little stumped and would prefer to troubleshoot this rather than spend money for a replacement, if possible.
Any opinions, tips, or info would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
michael
Message was edited by: mplaster

Hi mplaster-
Its a hardware issue. The DVD and CD portions of drives are essentially separate electronic devices. One can fail, as in your case, and the other works fine.
Some folks have reported success using an optical drive head cleaner. If that doesn't do it, replacement drives are cheap and easy to do yourself if so inclined.
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

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