Hello,
I'm in need of some EXPERT help.. I'm not really very knowledgeable when it comes to computer problems.

Here's the situation. My d:drive is a cd-rw. When I insert a disc of any type the green LIGHT turns to a flashing red and it does not work. I'm also getting a weird error message about Yahoo Music and on my Norton SystemWorks too.

I've tried resetting the eid cable. I went thru the troubleshooter. I've been to Norton's website for a scan and no known viruses.

Any ideas what to try next?How old is the drive? Sometimes they quit working even though there is a light or the drawer opens. Has it had a lot of use? Has anything else changed with the machine? Any monkeying around inside the case BEFORE the problem?The cr-rw is 5 years old and sees little use. I use it less than once a month on average. I opened the case about 6 months ago to upgrade the ram from 128 to 512 and I cleaned it at the same time.5 years is a long time for an optical drive. COULD you have dislodged something from it? When did it stop functioning correctly? Check all data cables for a firm fit.

A replacement drive is $30. A DVD burner is about $40. I did not realize that these devices are so inexpensive. Could I upgrade to a dvd burner? Is this a plug and play type operation?Here ya go: NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM, $38.Just remove the old, plug in the new, set any jumpers (if needed) and install the software to make it functional. That's all there is to it.Thanks gx1_man and soybean, I bought that dvd burner that you recomended. I'm not sure what a jumper is but hopefully I don't need it. The dvd burner will be a GOOD upgrade. I'll post any other questions or I'll tell you when it's running again.
The jumper is a little connector which connects adjacent pins to create electrical contact between them. It's a feature on all hard drives and optical (CD/DVD) drives to control the master/slave configuration. This issue comes into play mainly when you two drives connected to the same data cable. Here's a reference which should help: Setting Hard Drive Jumpers. Also, the documentation with the CDRW drive you purchased will probably have info on this.It will probably not have any documentation if it is OEM, or any software. Just make sure the jumper on the new drive matches the setting on the one coming out.