Vista reads CD/DVDs and USB Flash sticks as RAW file system

[BT]

Hi

I have a fairly new install of Vista Ultimate on my laptop (~1 month old).
A few days ago the CD/DVD drive stopped recognizing any media inserted in the
drive. No autoplay dialogs appear and if I try to open the disc in my
computer the disc is ejected and I'm told to insert new media. I can boot off
of the drive fine using my Vista install disk leading me to believe its a
software problem, but I'd prefer not to reinstall the OS since I just did
that 1 month prior due to another issue. Strangely I also have
encountered a problem with my USB flash drives - Vista claims the drive is
unformated and attempts to reformat always end in a failure. The flash drive
works
on other computers so I know this isn't a hardware issue. What seems to
unite the
two problem is that when I open Computer Management->Disk Management the
CD/DVD disc & flash drive are recognized but Vista claims that they have the
RAW filesystem (which they do not). Any suggestions? My motherboard was
replaced recently and I performed the reinstall afterward but perhaps this is
hardware? I'm at a loss on how to correct this, so any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks,

BT
When

 

[BurrWalnut]

Here is one possible solution:

Try turning the computer off and remove the mains lead, also remove the
battery as it’s a laptop. Press and hold the on/off button on the computer
for ten seconds. Plug in the lead and laptop battery and start the computer
as normal. You may have to reset the system date/time.