My Philips CDRW IDE 12x8x32 version 4 is unable to read audio CDs or VCDs. It's detected on boot up and device manager shows its working properly, it shows up in explorer but shows empty media even though loaded with a CD. When no CDs are loaded and accessed via explorer, the usual "Please insert a disk into drive E" (my CDRW drive is E)does not pop up. Tried cleaning with lens cleaner, uninstalled it and re-installed it, still unable to read CDs. Help much appreciated.

Check the IDE...Try to replace then observe. SHENGTON MASAYA BASTA MAY BEER...c",

Thanks shengton, I'll try that and I may add that I'm using Nero 5.5, could that be the cause too? If so what should I do? Uninstall Nero 5.5? I don't have the original to re-install it.

Try also upgrade your Nero 5 into 7 co'z your nero version is too old version. SHENGTON MASAYA BASTA MAY BEER...c",

If the version of Nero you're using presently has always worked and now the drive is no longer seeing a disc in it, chances are it's not software related so I wouldn't worry about that too much at this point. Deal with the hardware first.... If nothing appears in Windows Explorer and the autorun's on CD's/DVD's aren't working, your drive may be bad. First, uninstall it in device manager. Reboot, let the sytsem find and install the "new" device. Test it again with a CD and/or DVD. I would try several to make sure it's just not a bad disc. If the system didn't find the drive on reboot. Scan for new hardware and add it when it comes up and test as I said above. If that neither works and the system doesn't find the drive, it's likely toast and needs to be replaced. If the drive is found in either case and still doesn't work, it's likely toast and needs replacing. If you're lucky, it's under warranty and replacement will be free. If it's not, then the good news is, they're not too expensive any more.