CD/DVD drive won't read media

I just bought a Power Mac G4 Quicksilver from a friend (I'm new to this) and she said that the CD/DVD drive sometimes has problems reading discs. She also said that a friend of hers told her that all it needed was a new "drive reader" which would only be about $20.
So far it hasn't been able to read anything for me. When I insert a disc it makes some clicking sounds as if it's trying to read it but then after about a minute it just ejects it without any error message. I'd rather not replace it if I can avoid it.
Any suggestions on how to fix this? Is there such thing as a "drive reader"? What drive should I get if I do need to replace it?
Thanks.
Jeff

Jeff, welcome to Apple Discussions & the Mac Community.
The drive could have failed. It could also be dust on the read lens inside the drive. You can get a CD/DVD drive cleaner CD at most computer stores.
There are several types of drives that you could replace the current one with:
1) one that is read only (ie. drive reader)
2) one that will read CDs & DVDs and burn CDs
3) one that will read CDs & DVDs and burn CDs & DVDs
#1 is cheapest & doesn't require any special software
#2 & #3 are more expensive & may/will require special software
 Cheers, Tom

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Product Name and Number:
HP Pavillion dv6-3120us
OS
Windows 7, Home Premium. 64-bit.
Error Message
"Insert a Disc; Please insert a disc into E: drive."
Background
Pre-installed Windows 7 system on computer recognized CD/DVD ROM drive for about 3 months. Malware corrupted the OS. I re-installed the OS from the recovery drive's partition. CD/DVD ROM drive failed to read or write, and I cannot restore old files or back-up current configuration via CD/DVD ROM drive. All updates for Windows 7 and hardware drivers seem to be installed and up-to-date as of 10/4/2011.
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1. Tried to read audio CD. Same error message.
2. Tried to read data CD-ROM. Same error message.
3. Tried to read data DVD-ROM. Same error message.
4. Writing to DVD ROM failed. Same error message.
5. Re-loaded OS 2nd time. No change. Same error message.
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7. Checked Device Manager. DVD drive is recognized as TS-L633R.
8. Driver is cdrom.sys version 6.1.7600.16385. Clicked Update Driver, no change.
9. Tried uninstalling and re-installing the driver. No change.
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This question was solved.
View Solution.

Update:
I chatted online with Ben S. at HP tech support via the HP Support Assistant. Helpful guy. Thank you, Ben. He worked through it and his counterpart Alan is sending me a new DVD/CD drive. Ben S checked the following:
1. Confirmed that I had tried multiple discs to check different formats: DVD-R, CD-RW, audio CD, video DVD, software data CD. None were recognized.
2. CD/DVD icon appears in My Computer. Confirmed.
3. Checked Device Manager for yellow exclamation marks. None present.
4. Opened below Device Manager and checked for yellow exclamation marks. HP CDDVDW TS-L633R ATA device listed correctly. Redundant, but I understand; it's a good check.
5. Confimed the Model and Serial Number.
6. Asked whether I had done a System Recovery. I had. Twice. First time it didn't restore the drive, so I thought I'd try it again. Second time also did not restore the drive.
7. Ben S. concluded that the drive has a hardware malfunction, and offered drive replacement under warranty since I purchased in April. I should have it by Oct 17, and then I have 15 days to return the broken drive or I'm charged $80.
Alan offered an additional year of warranty service for about $100. Ben's guess on the root cause was a bad lens from stress on the DVD tray. I don't recall any stress events. I've had this laptop since April, 2011, and the drive failed at the end of September. 7 months. This surprised me considering I've got other notebook computers with drives that have lasted years and still haven't failed.
I'll check in when I get the replacement drive.

CD/DVD drive won't read media

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