Windows Explorer Not Recognizing Some CD Discs

[Neil]

Have owned computer for 3 years, and this started happening about 3
months ago. CDR discs and CDRW discs created in Windows Explorer or
Nero are sometimes not recognized in Windows Explorer. Below "My
Computer" there will be "CD-RW Drive (D" rather than the Volume
Label, and the right side of the window will be blank. This will happen
intermittently with some CDs, not at all with some, and all the time
with others. It most recently happened with a CDR where I added another
group of data folders. This time the CD's volume label and contents
never appears, Auto Read does not work, the hard drive light on the
tower stays on most of the time, the CDRW drive is running ... then
when I open Windows Explorer, "My Computer" has no drives below it, and
when I try to close Windows Explorer, I get a Program Not Responding
Message. Then, all sorts of things can go wrong with the computer --
AOL will not work right, for instance. And that may continue to happen
even after a complete turn-off and turn-on. I see Microsoft has a patch
for a problem almost like this, but it says it's for this occurring in
earlier versions of Windows. I have SP2 and Virus protection. Thanks
for your help.

 

[Neil]

In all cases, the discs are read with no problems in my other computer,
a Toshiba Notebook.

 

[Alan]

In all cases, the discs are read with no problems in my other computer,
a Toshiba Notebook.

It's not explorer. It is the drive itself.

 

[Neil]

Is there any servicing of the drive I should try before replacing it,
such as cleaning the laser eye? If I do replace it, I may as well get a
DVD writer -- is there one you recommend? Thanks.