Drive will not recognize cd r or play audio cd

Most units are designed to "autoplay" audio CDs when they are inserted. When they fail to do so, it could be because the CD is dirty or scratched and was bot recognized, the media player that you are using to play the CD was not in a state that it could autoplay the CD, or there could be a problem with the Disk drive or PC itself. Whenever a CD fails to play upon insertion, go to the "My Computer" icon (win7 or below) and see if the CD/DVD drive shows a disk inserted. If so, clicking on the drive will often start the playback.

try running the fix-tool provided by Microsoft on this web page

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cd_dvd_drive_problems

If that fails then my suspicion is that either
1) the drive has failed
or more likely
2) because you don't have any DVD burning software, windows can't understand the blank DVD-RW disk. This basic packet-burning software installed with XP CANNOT write to DVD disks.

However there is a bit more to it than that - the Microsoft CD burning software (which is a cut down Roxio product) cannot co-exist with any other packet burning software (e.g. DLA, In-CD or simuilar) so if one of those is installed you have to DISABLE the MS CD burning capability on the drive settings tab. Even worse, Internet Explorer 8 is not compatible with DLA - which is included in quite a few CD/DVD suites including many of the later Roxio versions

My advice would be
1) un-install any CD or DVD burning software on the machine
2) disable the MS CD burning
3) run that Microsoft patch
4) Install some DVD burning software but DON'T install the packet writing software part of it

Note that after installing that patch you may also have to reinstall any DVD playing software

is everything wired up properly?
when you enter bios, does it recognize the dvd-writer?
which system do you use?
did you install the right driver fitting your operation system?
does windows recognize the drive?

please find out and come again!

You need to uninstall your cd drive. Go to start button, click on run, type:compmgmt.msc hit enter. Click on device manager on the left side. On the right side find your device and double click it. then go to the driver tab and click on uninstall. reboot your computer and the operating system will automatically reconfigure your cd drive and add it to your system. I hope this works for you.

JUST PRESS THE RESET BUTTON, SITUATED NEXT TO THE USB PLUG.
IF ALL THE CONNECTIONS WERE OK, IT SHOUD REINITIATE THE KDC-MP438U AS PAGE 3
OF THE MANUAL. YOU WILL HAVE TO READJUST THE CLOCK.
CLAUDE

Which Operating system are you using? How much free space on hard drive? Does the disc player work for everything else?

Check to see if there is a firmware fix from Toshiba, if not replace CD/DVD Rom drive

HEY is it playing other DVD'S check is it a combo drive , dvd wirter or a cd writer, if its only a cd wirter then it won't play DVD

Have an LG Super Multi DVD Drive, Model:GSA-4120B.

Won't recognize any disk, CD or DVD and won't play any audio video

Device manager says, it's working properly

Get a new drive, look around the net... these things are garbage. Mine has the opposite problem of yours. Recognizes everything but DVDs.