[wellylug] disc drive hassles

[Hamish Low]

hi,
have a hardware question someone may be able to help me with.
Seems my laptop cd/dvdr drive is not working. 
XP, (that i need for a little while until I can get the software I need 
running under WINE) can see the drive, but the cd just spins and stops.
The drive can read a linux install disc, but I got most of the way 
through a DeMuDi install before the drive failed.  My guess is hardware 
failure, but as I got my laptop from the States (while i was in Japan) I 
would have to send it back there possibly with the original XP installed 
for the warranty to be valid at great expense.  So before I resort to 
this,  is there any other way i can get the drive working? 
almost new qsi dvdr sdw-081 drive, have the latest drivers, flashing the 
firmware (though this may void the warranty)
any suggestions appreciated?

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