My SOWH-1633S not reading or Writing CDs

[mmah]

hi all,

i use an internal dvd/cd drive Model SOWH-1633
i used to work fine, but not started to have a very weird problem.##


It can read & write DVDs with no problems at all, but when it comes to CDs it is not reading or writing any CDs.
it used to work perfectly well before.
i have recently changed the OS from Vista to Vista , yeah,(basic to ulti) .. but it was perfect even after that installation for many months now.

I tried these following steps already:


1. checked my CDs. they are clean and can be read on other drives perfectly.
2. tried different brands of CDs (almost 5 now, both R & RWs)
3. Checked all the connections (wiring), anyway i this this might not be the problem because it can read/write DVDS
4. Upgraded the firmware form the official website to the latest.
5. that's it, now, i am fed up


any expert help would be greatly appreciated .


many thanks.

PS: i can give more details of my mobo, etc. if necessary , if it might help solving my problem

[minidv2dvd]

they do wear out. and it has separate lasers for cd and dvd so it's quite possible the cd laser only is dead. new burners are cheap, replace it.

[mmah]

ok. got it . don't know about laser stuff
many many thanks and will do that.

[redwudz]

On a DVD drive, there are usually two lasers, one for DVD and another for CDs. Your CD laser may be dying. Most times the DVD laser dies first. With the price of DVD drives fairly low at present, I would just replace it.

EDIT: minidv2dvd typed faster.