Although it could be dirty, I've never really had to clean a laser lens.  If the laser is the problem it's either a defective laser or not enought power from the power supply.

There are inexpensive kits that have a disc with a small brush on it that you put solution on and then run it in the drive and it's supposed to clean the laser.  I can't vouch that they actually work.  As a PC"s CD drive is "closed" there's not much chance of the laser getting dirty like it is on a lot of audio CD players that have the laser exposed.

Have you reseated the ribbon cable on the back of the drive?  And checked the power connection?  Also, have you uninstalled the device in the Windows Device Manager and then restarted Windows and let it reinstall.  That will "refresh" the unit with Windows.

Other than that, the drive could have went belly up.

Thanks guys, I'll give all that a try. Any particular brand name that's recommenced for the cleaning disk?

As I said in my first post, this is the second DVD drive in the machine to exhibit the same problem - that and the CD-R/W drive has also been replaced one. Just seems like this maching 'eats' optical drives.

For the new firmware, I assume you mean 5-1-18, or do you mean 5-1-15?. Is there any way to determine what the existing firmware version is before I go and try to change it?

Hi Derf,
Dell also has one 5-1-27, which I would lean toward if the model #`s are correct.
In my Windows 98 machine, Device Manager | Properties of DVD drive | Firmware is listed under Settings.
Nero`s Speed Test in Section 7-5 of the CD/RW link can provide this information, also you should be able to find this within your burnign software, Section 8-3, article 9

Happy Holidays!




God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell the
difference.

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Sorry for the delay, it took awhile to be sure. But it appears the firmware upgrade solved the problem.