I recently started having problems with the Toshiba DVD-ROM drive in my PC. Some of my CDs won't load, including a cleaning disc, though they run on another PC. I have been advised to reload Windows 98, but this is also on CD. I can't load my own startup disk, and the CDs can't be read in DOS. The latest driver is installed.
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This doesn't sound like a software problem, so reinstalling Windows won't help. It seems what you have is a faulty DVD-ROM drive, and cleaning it might resolve the problem. This is not as impossible as it seems, as although the drive may not be able to actually read the cleaning disc, it will still function. The cleaning action occurs as the disc spins, which it does even if the drive fails to recognise it. Repeated attempts to load the disc should therefore clean the drive and get it working.
We recently encountered a similar problem in which a drive wouldn't read certain CDs if the PC had been running for a while and the drive was warm. Problem discs could be read when they were inserted after the system had just been turned on and was cold. In a desktop or tower case it might have been possible to move the drive to a different, cooler drive bay, though in this case the problem drive was in a laptop and the only option was replacement. Heat may not be the cause of your problem, but it's another possibility that's worth investigating. Otherwise, you're probably going to need a new drive.
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