sony dru-530 2.1a fubar

[Sideburns]

Was attempting to write an iso, using the right click burn to disc option, to a blank cd when the machine locked up. Alongside the iso burn I was also encoding a cd to mp3 and browsing the web. The lockup seemed persistent so i rebooted and upon reboot the dvd drive no longer reads media. The drive seems unable to read media, inside or outside of fedora 5 too i.e. on boot up and under gnome desktop.

Any ideas how to fix this, a firmware update will involve re-installing windows which I'd rather avoid.

[Sideburns]

Have tried the firmware update to no avail, even taken the drive apart and cleaned the lens now using a microfibre cloth and nothing, i think the laser on it might be screwed. I think the three motors in the drive will now serve to make a neural net beam robot, in this drives death there is at least life and a bday present for the girlfriend

Failing any suggestions on how to fix it is there any suggestions regarding which drive to buy to replace?

edit:::: after some research I'm liking the look of the benq dw1650 despite traditionally being a pioneer man.