My CD/DVD drive reads CDs but not DVDs

Hi All
I have a TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633M DVD drive in my laptop and after about 6 months of use, the drive stopped reading/writing DVDs. It still reads CDs fine and occasionally will read a DVD (completely unprovoked and without warning...!) but is very temperamental and will randomly just stop reading a DVD. Often, the drive will eject and give an error message telling me to insert a disc. I'm not sure what to do.
I'm running Windows Vista 32-bit. I have tried running the Microsoft Fixit application, which recognises that the drive is failing to read DVDs but offers nothing more helpful than that and doesn't fix anything (despite its name...). I have been reading through a number of different forums and have found a range of advice: replacing the drive, uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers or editing the registry. What should I be doing to fix this problem? Naturally, I'd prefer not to have to replace the drive itself, but if that's the only way...
Thanks in advance!
Mangi
This question was solved.
View Solution.

The registry thing only works if the drive is completely AWOL from the system so that it does not appear as a drive in "My Computer"....not your issue. The DVD and the CD use different lasers and it is not uncommon for one to go bad and the other not. You can check the function of the DVD by trying to boot from a bootable DVD. If you cannot the drive is bad and needs to be replaced. If it works sometimes and not others it could just need a good cleaning with a DVD lens cleaner.

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