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Before doing any work, please establish a System Restore Point.
Also run PC Fixer. A Study show this application can fix 40% of CD/DVD issues.

Quick Tools to Try

PC Fixer - A Study show this application can pinpoint 40% of CD/DVD issues.
CDGONE patch - this very popular fix may help the drive reappear in Device Manager or My Computer/Explorer. Third party CD/DVD playing and burning software should be reinstalled afterwards. It's essential ingredient is the removal of the upper and lower filters in the registry.
Disappearing XP-CD/DVD Rom Fix program - this similar fix that may help the drive reappear in Device Manager or My Computer/Explorer. Again reinstall 3rd party software.
upper-lower-filters-removal-alone.reg - this tool fixes deletes the upper and lower filters in their most likely place, which is a common solution to fixing CD/DVD drive problems.
Resetdma.vbs - this little script will set the data transfer setting of your CD/DVD drive back to DMA which is faster and newer method than the old PIO method. This may fix drive issues.
Microsoft Autoplay Repair Wizard - Amazingly this apparently fixes some CD/DVD drive reading and writing problems.
Windows XP Patch: CD Burning Update - "This update addresses several CD burning issues that are discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 320174. Download now to prevent problems with CD burning." (Apparently this executable replaces the cdrom.inf, Imapi.exe, Imapi.sys files.) It's really a kind of useless update because it can only be applied to XP machines before SP1.
CD Recovery Toolbox - CD Recovery Toolbox - for recovering data off damaged and corrupt CD and DVDs.
Sony Rootkit Uninstaller - a few years ago, SONY released CDs that had rootkit technology designed to protect the digital rights of the music on the CD. This proved disastrous as hackers copied their methods to burrow under the Windows operating system with the same rootkit strategies that SONY used. There are still some of those Sony CDs around. The rootkit sometimes causes CD and DVD drives to not appear in Explorer or cause other issues and the uninstaller cures the issue.
SendToCD_registry_key.reg - this fix repairs the "Send To CD Drive" and "Copy to CD" shortcuts in XP".

Quick Things to Do About Numbered Device Manager Errors
See Microsoft's Article

Code 10 This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed.

Code 19 Your registry might be corrupted.

Code 31 The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device

Code 32 (or Code 31) A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled

Code 39 Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing.

Code 41 Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device.

These error codes are usually resolved by uninstalling the upper and lower filters. Third party burning software will need to be reinstalled.

The program XP_CD-DVD-Fix.exe based on the registry file CDGONE.reg, accomplishes the filters deleting mentioned above along with removing a few other less important registry keys.

It's also possible there are subkeys which contain the upper and lower filters. See this article about deleting them. This is less common.

Another strong possibility is the Sony Rootkit has been installed. Uninstall it.

If ITunes is installed on your machine, uninstall it. If you desire keep ITunes, remove the lower filter and set or create the upper filter to the value of "GEARAspiWDM" without the quotes. You need to add a return after the string. This is important. Please see Apple's article on the subject for more info.

If after installing ITunes or Norton Ghost, you get Device Manager error code, try locating the Audio File System (AFS) driver from Oak Technologies at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\afs.sys or doing a search for it. Rename it afs.sys.txt and reboot.

This driver is incompatible with the driver found in ITunes and Norton Ghost. After renaming the driver file you will lose access to the CD burning feature of of the following: HP Memories Disc Creator, Liquid Audio Portal Player, Oak Technology SimpliCD, or Broderbund's Print Shop version 20. For more information, see the article here.

The C:\Windows\INF\cdrom.inf file is the script Windows uses to reinstall it's CD/DVD drive drivers. When you uninstall an optical drive or IDE channel and rescan for hardware changes, Windows uses this script to recreate the registry settings and point the drive to the proper drivers. This file can become corrupt. You can replace the XP SP2 or SP3 file (they are identical) with this one or the Vista SP 1 version with this one.

If one right clicks on any CD or DVD drive in Device manager and chooses Properties and then Driver tab, you will see five or so files listed. If any of these are corrupted, presumably they will give Device Manager errors. One can discover whether any is corrupt by opening a command prompt and typing the command "sfc /scannow" without the quotes. If one discovers a corrupt driver file with this method it may be difficult to find a method to find the uncorrupt file for an update as the SFC command may ask for, for instance a Windows XP SP3 install CD, a very rare bird indeed. There ay be other methods to provide the correct file but they are unclear to me at the moment.

Basic Diagnostic Questions

Will the DC/DVD drive door open under its own power if told to eject or if the external drive door button is pushed?

An open CD/DVD drive.

Does the drive light up when a CD/DVD is placed in it?

Does the drive light continue and the drive speed up or does it “die”?

Does the CD/Drive appear in the device manager?

Device manager hopen to and highlighting a DVD drive.

Does the CD/DVD drive appear in Explorer and My Computer?

Explorer open to the contents of a CD.

Does the CD/DVD drive read disks properly?

Does the CD/DVD drive burn disks?

A large CD burning icon ( a CD with a flame coming from it).

Does the CD/DVD drive burn disks correctly?

Further Diagnostic Question and Some Fix Suggestions

If the CD/DVD Drive Door Will Not Open:

See if the tray is obstructed. Stick a straightened out paper clip in the little hole and try to push out the tray.
With removable laptop drive, pull it out and shove it back in solidly.
With removable laptop drive, also clean the contacts of the drive with a pencil eraser.
With a PC, unplug the machine and pull the data and power cables and then reseat them firmly, being sure to connect completely.
With a volt meter, test the power cable going to the drive. It should have two wires with a 5 volt ~1 amp circuit and the other two with a 12 volt ~1 amp circuit.
From these tests, you can determine if the drive is mechanically and electrically sound and if the power supply needs replacement.
Note that there are usually several spare power supply drive leads which can be tested and used to replace a faulty one.
Purchase and use a "CD Lens Cleaner" or use a compressed air cleaner can to clean out the drive.

If the Drive Does Not Light Up When a CD/DVD Is Placed in It:

With removable laptop drive, pull it out and shove it back in solidly.
With removable laptop drive, also try cleaning the contacts of the drive with a pencil eraser.
If you have a laptop and the drive is removable, clean the contacts of the drive with a pencil eraser.
With a PC, unplug the machine and pull the data and power cables and then firmly reseat them.
If the drive functions perfectly well without an indicator light, the drive light may be defective.
More likely there is a problem with the inner workings of the drive, such as the drive motor or drive train is out of order. You probably need to replace the drive.
Failure to light up may indicate a problem with the inner workings of the drive, such as a short in the drive motor, drive train or laser or some kind of electrical failure in any of those three. In that case you probably need to replace the drive.
Try purchasing and using a "CD Lens Cleaner" or use a compressed air cleaner to see if a lack of a drive light has to do with a dirty laser .This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

If the Drive Initially Lights and Then “Dies”:

With removable laptop drive, pull it out and shove it back in solidly.
With removable laptop drive, also try cleaning the contacts of the drive with a pencil eraser.
With a PC, unplug the machine and pull the data and power cables and then firmly reseat them.
If the drive functions perfectly well without an indicator light, the drive light may be defective.
Failure to light up may indicate a problem with the inner workings of the drive, such as a short in the drive motor, drive train or laser or some kind of electrical failure in any of those three. In that case you probably need to replace the drive.
You can also purchase and use a "CD Lens Cleaner" or use a compressed air cleaner to see if a lack of a drive light has to do with a dirty laser. Click on the following link to see the product description for a CD laser lens cleaner from Allsop on Amazon rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can also purchase these special CDs at computer and office supply stores and online for $2-$20. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

If the CD/Drive Lights Up but Fails to Appear in the Device Manager:

Try restarting your PC before checking or doing anything.
Update Windows completely.
Look for an issue on your CD/DVD drive's site. There may have developed a new issue with your drive after Windows installed an update.
Update the firmware for your drive from your computer's manufacture site or the drive manufacturer.
Try right clicking on My Computer and choosing "Manage." Click on Disk Management on the left hand side and then under the "Action" Menu choose "Rescan Disks." See if this restores the disk to appearing.
If it does not, again, the data cable may be loose or need replacing. You can also try replacing a 40 wire IDE cable with and 80 wire one. See here for a description of the physical cables that attach to your drive.
A further reason for failure of a device to show up in device manager, is a dying motherboard, that for instance has a dead IDE channel. A way around this is to buy a PCI IDE or SATA expansion card and hook your CD/DVD drives to it.
Another reason for a CD/DVD drive not appearing in Device manager is misconfiguration in the BIOS. Open up your BIOS hitting the F2, Delete key or whatever key you manufacture tells you just before Windows boots. See if the device is listed in the BIOS. If the information about the drive has been entered in manually, try changing the detection to "Automatic."
Another reason for this failure, is the BIOS is not up to date. Go to your manufacturer's site, and update the BIOS. This can be a tricky procedure so you might want to exhaust other possibilities first.
An additional cause of this problem is a virus. Do a virus scan or better yet, do one online for free at any of the major companies. By doing it online you will most likely bypass any hiding the virus is doing from you antivirus program.
You might also make sure the drive is on XP’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).

Try the popular CDGONE patch.: "CD drives may vanish in Windows Explorer, Device Manager, etc. if a third-party CD-burning package has been uninstalled and Registry references for some code modules aren’t removed successfully. This patch and a reboot usually will restore the missing drives. Any third party package still required will then have to be re-installed. For more information on this and other possible causes, see the “Problems” section of Alex Nichol’s Burning CDs in Windows XP article."
Remove the upper and lower filters from the registry key at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318. Removing these registry setting may restore the player’s ability to read however it may also stop its ability to burn CDs and DVDs from working. You may have to reinstall burning software. See here for a description how to do this with your registry. See Microsoft's article here.

If you have a laptop and the drive is removable, pull it out and put it back forcefully and solidly.
If you have a laptop and the drive is removable, clean the contacts of the drive with a pencil eraser.
Purchase a "CD Lens Cleaner" and see if this will spin in your drive. The are specially designed CDs with brushes on the bottom that will clean the read and separate burn laser (if there is a separate one) of the drive. This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

If the CD/DVD Drive Appears in the Device Manager but Fails to Appear in Explorer and My Computer

Try restarting your PC before checking or doing anything.
Try hitting the F5 refresh key while in Explorer or My Computer to see if the drive appears.
Try right clicking on My Computer and choosing "Manage." Click on Disk Management on the left hand side and then under the "Action" Menu choose "Rescan Disks." See if this restores the disk to appearing.
If the drive appears in Disk Management but does not have a drive letter assigned to it, you can do this, manually in Disk Management by right clicking on the drive and choosing "Change Drive Letter and Paths..." or "Assign a drive letter".
Update your BIOS.
Update Windows completely.
Look for an issue on your CD/DVD drive's site. There may have developed a new issue with your drive after Windows installed an update.
Are there errors codes 1, 3, 10, 18, 19, 22, 28, 31, 32, 37, 39, 40 or 41 that appear in Device status in Device Manager? There may be bad registry, driver or bad system file problem. Look up the errors online.

Screenshot of CD/VD drive properties.

You can also check if under c:\windows\inf\cdrom.inf exists. You can replace the XP SP2 or SP3 file with this one or the Vista SP 1 version with this one. If you right click on this file and choose install, it reinstalls all the driver files for the CD/DVD drive. This is worth trying as well.
Try right clicking on this inf file and choose install. It reinstalls all the driver files for the CD/DVD drive.

Screenshot of cdrom.inf file in Explorer.

Remove the upper and lower filters from the registry key at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318. You may have to reinstall burning software. See the Microsoft article on the subject.
Try the popular CDGONE patch. It easily removes the filters along with a few other relevant registry items. Unzip the downloaded file and double click on the cdgone.reg registry item to incorporate the changes into your registry.
If you use ITunes, remove the lower filter and set the upper filter to the value of "GEARAspiWDM" without the quotes and hit Enter on the keyboard to include a carriage return. The carriage return is important. See the Apple article on the subject for XP here and Vista here.
You might also look at the registry settings at these two locations the value “No Drives": HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer. If it is anything other than zero, Group Policy may be hiding the drives. You may have to ask your administrator to change things. If it is a local machine not in a business setting, run "gpedit.msc" in the Windows Start Menu Run box. Configure as follows: "This entry corresponds to the Hide these specified drives in My Computer Group Policy (User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Explorer). Select a drive or a combination of drives from the drop-down list." The quote is from the article link that follows: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/regentry/58871.mspx?mfr=true:
You might also try to look at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives\Volume{GUID} Check the value of “Drive Type”. Change it to the appropriate value with the DWORD = 1 which is CDR, =2 which is for CDRW or =3 which is for CD-ROMS.

Screenshot of regedit and the relevant key for the above paragraph.

You might also make sure the drive is on XP’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL): http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx.
You might also try to update your BIOS.
Uninstall your CD/DVD drive and then have Windows rediscover the device through the add hardware wizard (by right clicking on the root of your computer in Device Manager and choosing "scan for hardware changes.") See here for an explanation how to do this, see method 2 from here.

Screenshot of device manager showing it scanning fornew disks.

Uninstall and reinstall the secondary IDE port. See the article here.
Purchase a "CD Lens Cleaner" and see if this will run in your drive. The are specially designed CDs with brushes on the bottom that will clean the read and separate burn laser (if there is a separate one) of the drive. This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

If the CD/DVD Drive Does Not Read Disk Properly

- Try restarting your PC before checking or doing anything.
- Make sure your CD or DVD has the data side down and the label up.
- Can the disk that you are trying to read, be read from another computer? Is your disk suitable to your drive, for instance are you trying to read a DVD in a CD only drive? The issue might be a disk one.
- Update your player software.
- Update your BIOS.
- Update Windows completely.
- Look for an issue on your CD/DVD drive's website. There may have developed a new issue with your drive after Windows installed an update.
- Update the firmware for your drive from your computer's manufacture site or the drive manufacturer.
- Do you get an "Incorrect Function" error when you insert a disk? This problem is caused by Roxio Easy CD Creator 4.X or earlier which is incompatible with Windows XP. See the Microsoft article here. If you have Easy CD Creator 3.X or 4.X, you must upgrade to at least 5.X or 6.X Easy CD Creator. If you have these versions and you get the message, you must install the Microsoft XP update for Easy CD Creators 5.X and 6.X that is available at Roxio's site here.
- You might also make sure the drive is on XP’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
- You might also look at the registry settings at these two locations and delete the “No Drives" values if they exist and then restart your PC: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer. I'm not sure if this would enable a CD/DVD drive to read a CD/DVD that it initially could not.
- Locate the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives\Volume{GUID} Check the value of “Drive Type”, if it is equal to DWORD = 1 is a CDR, DWORD = 2 is a CDRW, DWORD = 3 is a CDROM. Adjust this and reboot the computer.
- Additionally you might look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer
  Modify/Create the Value Name [NoCDBurning] according to the Value Data listed below.
  Data Type: REG_DWORD [DWORD Value] // Value Name: NoCDBurning
  Value Data: [0 - Enable Burning / 1 - Disable Burning]
- Uninstall your CD/DVD drive and then have Windows rediscover the device through the add hardware wizard (by right clicking on the root of your computer in Device Manager and choosing "scan for hardware changes.") See here for an explanation how to do this, see method 2 from here.
- Uninstall and reinstall the secondary IDE port. See t the article here.
- Does the CPU high usage while accessing or recording? This problem may caused by the drive being not enabling the DMA transfer mode. Right click in Device Manager on the Advanced Settings Tab on the secondary IDE channel. Change the drive from PIO to "DMA when possible" access. This script when executed (ignore the warnings) will set all the drives back from PIO mode to DMA. Perhaps this will solve your problem:
- You can also try to do the reverse and set DMA to PIO only and see if this allows reading of a disk.
- Make sure that your CD/DVD drive is on a separate IDE cable than the one you are using for your hard disk(s). Usually hard disk are on IDE or SATA channel 1 and the CD ROMs are on channel 2. Mixing the two kind of drives sometimes causes them to malfunction.
- Try the XP-DVD Fix program.
- Install the Microsoft Autoplay Repair Wizard. Amazingly this apparently fixes some drive reading problems.
- Remove the upper and lower filters from the registry key at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318. Removing these registry setting may restore the player’s ability to read however it may also stop its ability to burn CDs and DVDs from working. You may have to reinstall burning software. See here for a description how to do this with your registry. You should especially remove the filters if CD-ROM access is missing and messages cite error Code 31, Code 32, Code 19, or Code 39 after you remove Easy CD Creator in Windows XP see here for Microsoft article on the subject.
- See this article on removing additional filters.
- If Sony’s Rootkit was ever installed, try using the removal tool from Sony to uninstall it. This may have happened and you not known about it. See the link.
- Try the sfc /scannow command. Sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files immediately and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions. This command may require access to the Windows installation source files. Click Start->Run and type in sfc /scannow, then press OK. Note: there's a blank space between sfc and /scannow.
- Do you get an "Incorrect Function" error when you insert a disk? This problem is caused by Roxio Easy CD Creator 4.X or earlier which is incompatible with Windows XP. See the Microsoft article here. If you have Easy CD Creator 3.X or 4.X, you must upgrade to at least 5.X or 6.X Easy CD Creator. If you have these versions and you get the message, you must install the Microsoft XP update for Easy CD Creators 5.X and 6.X that is available at Roxio's site here.
- Purchase a "CD Lens Cleaner" and see if this will run in your drive. The are specially designed CDs with brushes on the bottom that will clean the read and separate burn laser (if there is a separate one) of the drive. This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

If the CD/DVD Burner Does Not Write Any Data or Music

Try restarting your PC before checking or doing anything.
Make sure your CD or DVD has the data side down and the label up.
If you have Windows XP, have at least Service Pack 1 installed.
Can the disk type that you are trying to burn, be burned from another computer? Has the whole batch gone bad? Are you using the right kind of disk for the burner? The issue might be a disk one.
Although it may not effect the quality of burning as opposed to whether you can burn at all, do you have enough space to make an image of the disk? CD/DVD writers need at least as much space as the disk contains in order to internally create an image of the disk before burning.
Update your burning software.
Update your BIOS.
Update Windows completely.
Look for an issue on your CD/DVD drive's website. There may have developed a new issue with your drive after Windows installed an update.
Update the firmware for your drive from your computer's manufacture site or the drive manufacturer.

Dell drivers and download page for a Vostro 200.

Open My Computer -> Right-click the CD-RW drive-letter, and choose Properties -> Select the Recording tab -> Place a checkmark near Enable CD recording on this drive and click OK. See Microsoft’s instructions about this.
If you can find the setting for the CD/DVD burning speed in the properties of the drive in Explorer, Device Manager, or the burning software, lower this as it may be set too high for the drive.
With XP but not Vista, check if the IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service is started or not. It manages CD recording. If it is disabled or manual, set it to automatic.
You might also make sure the drive is on XP’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
Additionally you might look at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer
Modify/Create the Value Name [NoCDBurning] according to the Value Data listed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: NoCDBurning
Value Data: [0 - Enable Burning]
Locate the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives\Volume{GUID} Check the value of “Drive Type”, if it is equal to DWORD = 1 is a CDR, DWORD = 2 is a CDRW, DWORD = 3 is a CDROM. Adjust this and reboot the computer. See Microsoft’s instructions about this.
Uninstall your CD/DVD drive and then have Windows rediscover the device through the add hardware wizard (by right clicking on the root of your computer in Device Manager and choosing "scan for hardware changes.") See here for an explanation how to do this, see method 2 from here.
Uninstall and reinstall the secondary IDE port. See the article here.
Does the CPU high usage while accessing or recording? This problem may caused by the drive being not enabling the DMA transfer mode. Right click in Device Manager on the Advanced Settings Tab on the secondary IDE channel. Change the drive from PIO to "DMA when possible" access. This script when executed (ignore the warnings) will set all the drives back from PIO mode to DMA. Perhaps this will solve your problem.
You can also try to do the reverse and set DMA to PIO only and see if this allows burning of a disk.
Make sure that your CD/DVD drive is on a separate IDE cable than the one you are using for your hard disk(s). Usually hard disk are on IDE or SATA channel 1 and the CD ROMs are on channel 2. Mixing the two kind of drives sometimes causes them to malfunction.
Try the XP-DVD Fix program.
Try running the Microsoft Autoplay Repair Wizard. Amazingly this apparently fixes some drive burning problems.

Microsoft Autoplay Repairapplet in action.

Remove the upper and lower filters from the registry key at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318. Removing these registry setting may restore the player’s ability to read however it may also stop its ability to burn CDs and DVDs from working. You may have to reinstall burning software. See here for a description how to do this with your registry. You should especially remove the filters if CD-ROM access is missing and messages cite error Code 31, Code 32, Code 19, or Code 39 after you remove Easy CD Creator in Windows XP. See Microsoft's article here.
See this article on removing additional filters.
If Sony’s Rootkit was ever installed, try using the removal tool from Sony to uninstall it. This may have happened and you not known about it. See the link.
Try the sfc /scannow command. Sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files immediately and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions. This command may require access to the Windows installation source files which can be a thorny issue if you have already installed the latest Service Pack because the source disk are usually at least one service pack back. Click Start->Run and type in sfc /scannow, then press OK. Note: there's a blank space between sfc and /scannow.
You can also check if under c:\windows\inf\cdrom.inf exists. You can replace the XP SP2 and SP3 file (they are identical)with this one or the Vista SP 1 version with this one. If you right click on this file and choose install, it reinstalls all the driver files for the CD/DVD drive. This is worth trying as well.
Do you get an "Incorrect Function" error when you insert a disk? This problem is caused by Roxio Easy CD Creator 4.X or earlier which is incompatible with Windows XP. See the Microsoft article here. If you have Easy CD Creator 3.X or 4.X, you must upgrade to at least 5.X or 6.X Easy CD Creator. If you have these versions and you get the message, you must install the Microsoft XP update for Easy CD Creators 5.X and 6.X that is available at Roxio's site here.
If you just recently upgraded to XP, third party burning software will now be disabled or will now conflicts with XP's burning software which you should uninstall or uninstall and update: see here.
Apparently Windows does not play nice with older version of Adaptec CD creator or EZ Creator. This article suggests removing the older software, removing the upper and lower filters from the same key as before, and then removing some additional keys.
Purchase a "CD Lens Cleaner" and see if this will run in your drive. The are specially designed CDs with brushes on the bottom that will clean the read and separate burn laser (if there is a separate one) of the drive. This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.

Drive Burns but With Skips, Lost Data and/or Errors

Try restarting your PC before checking or doing anything.
If you have Windows XP, have at least Service Pack 1 installed.
Can the disk type that you are trying to burn, be burned from another computer? Has the whole batch gone bad? Are you using the right kind of disk for the burner? The issue might be a disk one.
Update your burning software.
Update your BIOS.
Update Windows completely.
Look for an issue on your CD/DVD drive's website. There may have developed a new issue with your drive after Windows installed an update.
Update the firmware for your drive. These updates will often be found on your system's support pages or of course on the drive's support pages.
Make sure you have the size of the CD or DVD in free space available on your hard drive for a temporary disk image or you may not be able to burn your disk. This should be up to the size of your blank disk in addition to the space already taken by the files that will be burned. At least in Vista (and in XP?) you can change the location of the temporary disk burning image.
Make sure that your CD/DVD drive is on a separate IDE cable than the one you are using for your hard disk(s). Usually hard disk are on IDE or SATA channel 1 and the CD ROMs are on channel 2. Mixing the two kind of drives sometimes causes them to malfunction.

Dell drivers and download page for a Vostro 200.

You might also make sure the drive is on XP’s Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
Remove the upper and lower filters from the registry key at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/Class/4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318. Removing these registry setting may restore the player’s ability to read however it may also stop its ability to burn CDs and DVDs from working. You may have to reinstall burning software. See here for a description how to do this with your registry. You should especially remove the filters if CD-ROM access is missing and messages cite error Code 31, Code 32, Code 19, or Code 39 after you remove Easy CD Creator in Windows XP. See Microsoft's article here.

See this article on removing additional filters.
If you use ITunes, remove the lower filter and set the upper filter to the value of "GEARAspiWDM" without the quotes. You need to add a return after the string. This is important. Please see Apple's article on the subject for more info.
Locate the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CD Burning\Drives\Volume{GUID} Check the value of “Drive Type”, if it is equal to DWORD = 1 is a CDR, DWORD = 2 is a CDRW, DWORD = 3 is a CDROM. This change takes effect immediately and requires no reboot. In XP, make sure you then right click on the drive in Explorer/My Computer and choose "Use this drive for recording" (or something along those lines.
Using search, find the afs.sys and/or afs2k.sys files. Rename them with a "bak" or "old" extension. These Oak Technologies cd driver files conflict with Windows cdrom.sys, the CD-ROM driver.
On the Recording tab properties of the drive in Explorer, try lowering the burning speed to 1X from “Fastest possible” as the latter may somehow not be possible. This might fix a classic CD burning issue called a buffer underrun.
If you are using a 3rd party software see if you can find the burning speed setting in the Options of your software. Try a lower burning speed as higher speeds can cause a buffer underruns, although this is usually not a problem with today’s drives.
Uninstall your CD/DVD drive and then have Windows rediscover the device through the add hardware wizard (by right clicking on the root of your computer in Device Manager and choosing "scan for hardware changes.") See here for an explanation how to do this, see method 2 from here.
Uninstall and reinstall the IDE channel on which the drives attach. See the article here.
Does the CPU high usage while accessing or recording? This problem may caused by the drive being not enabling the DMA transfer mode. Right click in Device Manager on the Advanced Settings Tab on the secondary IDE channel. Change the drive from PIO to "DMA when possible" access. This script when executed (ignore the warnings) will set all the drives back from PIO mode to DMA. Perhaps this will solve your problem.
You can also try to do the reverse and set DMA to PIO only and see if this allows burning of a disk.
Try the XP-DVD Fix program.
Install the Microsoft Autoplay Repair Wizard. Amazingly this apparently fixes some drive burning problems.

Microsoft Autoplay Repairapplet in action.

Try the sfc /scannow command. Sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files immediately and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions. The problem is, the command may require access to the Windows installation source files and most people do not have the Windows souyrce disk with SP they currently have installed but have one or two service packs back.

To set this off and at least try, click Start->Run and type in sfc /scannow, then press OK. Note: there's a blank space between sfc and /scannow.
You can also check if under c:\windows\inf\cdrom.inf exists. You can replace the XP SP2 and SP3 file (they are identical) with this one or the Vista SP 1 version with this one. If you right click on this file and choose install, it reinstalls all the driver files for the CD/DVD drive. This is worth trying as well.
Do you get an "Incorrect Function" error when you insert a disk? This problem is caused by Roxio Easy CD Creator 4.X or earlier which is incompatible with Windows XP. See the Microsoft article here. If you have Easy CD Creator 3.X or 4.X, you must upgrade to at least 5.X or 6.X Easy CD Creator. If you have these versions and you get the message, you must install the Microsoft XP update for Easy CD Creators 5.X and 6.X that is available at Roxio's site here.

Apparently Windows does not play nice with older version of Adaptec CD creator or EZ Creator. This article suggests removing the older software, removing the upper and lower filters from the same key as before, and then removing some additional keys.
If you just recently upgraded to XP, third party burning software will now be disabled or will now conflicts with XP's burning software which you should uninstall or uninstall and update: see here.
Purchase a "CD Lens Cleaner" and see if this will run in your drive. The are specially designed CDs with brushes on the bottom that will clean the read and separate burn laser (if there is a separate one) of the drive. This one from Allsop on Amazon is rated 4 out of 5 stars and cost around $12: Allsop CD Laser-Lens Cleaner. You can purchase these special CDs at computer stores and office supply store for $2-$15. Here are more CD and DVD lens cleaners.
* A compressed air cleaning might also be effective.

Code 10	This device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed.
Code 19	Your registry might be corrupted.
Code 31	The device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device
Code 32 (or Code 31)	A driver for this device was not required, and has been disabled
Code 39	Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing.
Code 41	Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device.
These error codes are usually resolved by uninstalling the upper and lower filters. Third party burning software will need to be reinstalled. The program XP_CD-DVD-Fix.exe based on the registry file CDGONE.reg, accomplishes the filters deleting mentioned above along with removing a few other less important registry keys. It's also possible there are subkeys which contain the upper and lower filters. See this article about deleting them. This is less common. Another strong possibility is the Sony Rootkit has been installed. Uninstall it. If ITunes is installed on your machine, uninstall it. If you desire keep ITunes, remove the lower filter and set or create the upper filter to the value of "GEARAspiWDM" without the quotes. You need to add a return after the string. This is important. Please see Apple's article on the subject for more info. If after installing ITunes or Norton Ghost, you get Device Manager error code, try locating the Audio File System (AFS) driver from Oak Technologies at C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\afs.sys or doing a search for it. Rename it afs.sys.txt and reboot. This driver is incompatible with the driver found in ITunes and Norton Ghost. After renaming the driver file you will lose access to the CD burning feature of of the following: HP Memories Disc Creator, Liquid Audio Portal Player, Oak Technology SimpliCD, or Broderbund's Print Shop version 20. For more information, see the article here. The C:\Windows\INF\cdrom.inf file is the script Windows uses to reinstall it's CD/DVD drive drivers. When you uninstall an optical drive or IDE channel and rescan for hardware changes, Windows uses this script to recreate the registry settings and point the drive to the proper drivers. This file can become corrupt. You can replace the XP SP2 or SP3 file (they are identical) with this one or the Vista SP 1 version with this one. If one right clicks on any CD or DVD drive in Device manager and chooses Properties and then Driver tab, you will see five or so files listed. If any of these are corrupted, presumably they will give Device Manager errors. One can discover whether any is corrupt by opening a command prompt and typing the command "sfc /scannow" without the quotes. If one discovers a corrupt driver file with this method it may be difficult to find a method to find the uncorrupt file for an update as the SFC command may ask for, for instance a Windows XP SP3 install CD, a very rare bird indeed. There ay be other methods to provide the correct file but they are unclear to me at the moment.