OK I've taken the deep breath! My cd drive used to work ok. I've not installed any new software that coincided with it failing. The device is not old (month) samsung sm-348b. When I put in any kind of cd the drive fires up and appears to start reading but never finishes (the light keeps flashing) Win Explorer, my computer etc register the drive as empty. I have reloaded the driver, I have uninstalled the driver and let the computer reload on finding new hardware, all menus say device is working properly. Ihave reinstalled windows xp. I have run virus scans, I have scanned for errors. My gut feeling is a faulty setting in the BIOS but I'm in the dark there. Any ideas and thanks in advance.

No help I am sorry to say, butI came here looking for an answer to a similar problem. If I put a cd into the drive the machine hangs for, sometimes, 15 minutes before recognising the cd afterwhich that cd works ok until I insert another when the same process occurs. I HAVE updated my BIOS having previously followed the same route as yourself, Nothing seems to make any difference. I have another virtually identical machine which has no problem whatsoever. I am at a loss to know what to do next. My consolation to you is that, you are not suffering alone. Sorry I cannot help.

Thanks fj however, my drive doesn't wait for 15 minutes - it tries to run the cd for about 5 then goes to sleep.

have u tried cleaning the cd lense or trying a different cdrom on the same ide cable