Ken,

The problem is the drive. The motherboard BIOS does not know and does care one
bit whether the drive is a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo, or
DVD-RW. CD-ROM reading is an automatic function of most any operating system.
Burning CDs or DVDs requires some extra software beyond the OS, except that XP
builds-in a crude CD burner. I can only conclude that the CD mechanism (or
laser) has failed... Ben Myers

On 31 May 2008 13:40:00 GMT, Ken wrote:

I replaced the CD drive in my Presario 5000T desktop yesterday with a
Philips DVD8301/44 I got from a friend without documentation or box. From
what I can find on Google it should read both CDs and DVDs. However, it
reads only DVDs. This happens under both Windows XP Home and Ubuntu Linux
7.10. XP Device Manager thinks it's an HP DVD-writer 300c. I can't find
what Linux thinks it is; I'm just starting out in Linux and it has no
Device Manager that I've found yet. I'm guessing the problem is either
the drive or the Compaq BIOS.

Any ideas?

TIA

Ken