So...a long story short...

I have a systemax laptop (bought from Tigerdirect.com) about a year ago while I was in Iraq (army dude here).  My disc drive is a "slimtype combo lsc-24081".  It, in short, is takin' a smoke BREAK.  This happened once while I was in Iraq, but was able to fix it my using a system restore point.  The problem is seemingly software, not hardware related.  Going to "my computer" shows the drive there (dvd/cd-rw drive E:, and dvd drive G: ).  There is only one drive, so I guess it splits itself for whatever reason.  I put a cd or dvd in, my little "you've got a freakin' cd in YO' drive" light comes on, and it spins and spins with the little "i'm thinking" computer light flashing.  Then, it just stops.  Says screw it, and lights up a malboro.  I have tried a restore point, updating the driver, disabling then re-enabling, THEN again trying to update the driver (most current driver on already), tried rolling back driver but there wasn't one to roll back to.  I believe this came on this time and last, in correlation with CLEANING up the puter and taking off some media players like musicmatch, interactual, etc.  So, any help would be nice, fore I might have to dropkick this thing soon.  Hope to hear from someone soon...and I hope I gave enough info...if not...just bark at me and tell me what else you need.  Thanks for whatever help you can give!First off, I salute you my friend! (US dude here) ... Second, do you mean that smoke is actually coming from the drive?!

[glb]Flame[/glb]Thanks for the salute, I love having a good fan base.  No, the dirve isn't actually smoking.  Just not doing what its supposed to (work).  If it was actually smoking...I "should" be able to figure out the problem.  It just doesn't process the cd.  It will detect a cd there, but after trying to read it, it decides it was mistaken and no cd is in the drive.  Thats the best I can explain it.  Sorry for the confusion about the smoking.  I had a smoke while I was typing, and it seemed rather...funny at the time.  Thanks for the reply...and let me know if you can think of anything.Have you tried updating the drivers fro teh drive? Have you been keeping up with your Windows Updates?

[glb]Flame[/glb]Is the CD-ROM lense reader FILTHY? You said you have taken it with you during your tour of duty, thus the chances are there that sand or other types of dirt have scratched the sensitive surface of the lense.

Have you attempted to clean the lense by obtaining one of the many variants of cleaning kits available in computer/audio stores?All my drivers are up to date and I I have used several cleaners.  Like I said above, this thing has happened before, and I believe it's in correlation with deleting some media players.Oh, and my windows is up to date.  Everything is updated daily if not on the weekend when I get a second to sit down and defrag and virus scan and organize and...etc. etc.