Hello, I have a Sony VAIO VGN-FE890 laptop which has a Mats---a DVD-RAM UJ-850S. It used to work fine, but now it only reads some of the discs I insert. It appears to read all commercial CDs and DVDs without any problems. However, burned CDs and DVDs are a gamble as to whether or not they'll work. I know the problem has nothing to do with my OS because I can't boot off of burned CDs and/or burned DVDs that boot just fine on other computers. What should I do? Thanks!

If it's reading all commercial disks, you may burning at too high a speed, try reducing the speed and or try a different brand of media. Another thought, are you using plus or minus dvd/cdr's, I seem to remember somone saying Sony's don't like -cdr/dvr so try +cdr/dvr.

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried using the laptop's optical drive to burn a data CD using ImgBurn, but I got the following error message: -------------------------------------------------- I/O Error! Device: [0:0:0] MATs---A DVD-RAM UJ-850S (E:) (ATA) ScsiStatus: 0x02 Interpretation: Check Condition CDB: 2A 00 00 00 47 40 00 00 20 00 Interpretation: Write (10) - Sectors: 18240 - 18271 Sense Area: F1 00 03 00 00 44 D9 0A 00 2B 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Interpretation: Write Error -------------------------------------------------- I then used my Dell Inspiron 530s desktop computer to burn a data CD using the "Auto" speed in ImgBurn and then again using the "4x" speed. The Dell read both of the data CDs just fine after burning them, but the laptop wouldn't read either of them. I only used Fujifilm CD-Rs during those experiments, but I'm quite certain the results would be the same with another brand. I think my laptop's optical drive must have issues, but I haven't been rough with it, so it seems so random. Any other ideas?