Here’s a link to a firmware patch that makes the drive region free:
Patch
link to a forum page discussing problems with that drive:
Link
To install the patch, it’s probably OK just to click on the downloaded patch and it will automatically install. That’s what I’ve always found with internal optical drives, anyway. The patch/firmwware may be be zipped, in which case, unzip it into a new folder.
Does the drive connect through a USB port? Have you tried a new/alternative USB cable?
From reading available info, it appears that this particular drive is prone to failure. It may be best to seek a replacement if it’s still under warranty.
If Windows is showing it as working OK, check which mode it’s working in. If it’s shown as working in PIO mode, and not UDMA, it’s likely on the way out or faulty. Sorry
I’ve recently had two internal DVD-ROM drives fail on me, both around 18 months old. Both showed in Windows as working OK, but they weren’t. I replaced both. Both replacements worked fine.
Try the new firmware, but I strongly suspect the drive is faulty.