DVD/CD Drive Problem. Intermittently wor...

Two things you can try:
Open the drive tray, take a cotton swab and clean the LED in the middle of the drive. That is the read/write laser.

If that does not work:

1. Click Start , right-click Computer , and select Properties .
2. Click on Hardware, click the Device Manager link.
3. In Device Manager, click the plus sign (+) next to the type of driver you wish to uninstall and reinstall (for example, Modems, DVD/CD-ROMs, and so on).
4. Highlight each listed driver one at a time and ricght click and select uninstall from the drop down menu. If prompted, confirm that you wish to uninstall the drive.
5. In the Device Manager pane,(on top) click on "action", then click the Scan for hardware changes button . XP will now scan your system for hardware and install default drivers for anything that requires drivers at this time.
6. Verify under the heading in Device Manager that your drive is listed once again.
7. Once the device drivers have been reinstalled and is listed again, try running your CD again.

Let me know what happens.....Joe

First,
Even if the drive logo does'nt appear still try to access your drive to see if you can access the files.

If you are still not able to see your files and if it's not a hardware problem, try this,

Click Start->Run, type MSCONFIG and click OK.
It will launch System configuation utility.
Click on the Tab at top that says "Services"
At bottom,place a check mark in the check box that says "Hide all microsoft services"
Now click on the button on right that says "Disable all"
After that, goto the last tab at top that says "Start Up"
Again click on Disable All at bottom.
Now, click OK

A new message appear asking if you want to restart your comp or not.
Here,click Restart.

Now your computer will restart and when you come back to your desktop after reboot you will get a message saying "Sys config utility was used to make changes to your system"
Click OK on this message..

It will again launch the same sys config window..
Again click on Services tab, Check Hide all MS services and this time click Enable All and go to start up tab and Enable all there as well.
After this click OK .

You should get the same message again asking if you want to restart or not.
This time click on "Exit without Restart"

Now try to insert the disc and see if it works.

In brief, by doing the steps above we are disabling all third party services and softwares that start automatically when windows is booted. It includes any antivirus or firewalls installed in your comp.
This is just the diagnostic step to identify if any third party program or some spyware is creating some conflict.
After your restart your computer second time everything will be restored again.
Make sure that you restart your computer as soon as you are done to restore any important softwares.
Please remember this is just a diagnostic step.

Please let me know if this works and also if you find any change.