I have an HP Pavilion a465c with 2 laser drives.
The DVD-ROM drive works fine.
My problem is with the DVD/CD read/write drive.
On boot, the light doesn't come on and once my computer is up, the eject/close button does nothing.
If I open it manually and put in a disk, the drive doesn't spin.
The drive shows up in Windows Explorer, but always as empty (right click-eject also does nothing).
I'm still using XP Service Pack 1, mainly because I want to use this drive to make a backup before installing XP SP2.
Any ideas?

possibly a loose power connection.

If it doesn't void the warranty I would suggest opening it up and looking to see if the power cable is loose.

Hope that helps!

George

Please respond after you have solved your problem to notify who helped you and what solved the problem. Both sides benefit when you do.

Normally a CD drive will eject/close when the power connector is connected and the computer is on, whether or not the data cable is connected.
If the power to the drive is okay, your CD drive's controller board is fried.

CD drives do not last forever. What usually eventually happens is the bearings in the drive motor seize up, and the motor can no longer spin fast enough for CD's to be recognized, or they do not spin at all. It is possible a motor that cannot spin anymore could fry the drive's controller board.

It is also quite possible for a wonky power supply to produce too much over +5 and/or +12 volts - that tends to fry floppy and CD drive controller boards first. Check your current power supply voltages in your bios Setup - +3.3, +5, and +12 v should be within 10% of nominal values; your cpu core voltage(s) should be within 5% of nominal values.