CDRW drive morphing into CDR drive ???

Hello all,

I haven't used my CDRW drive for about 6-8 weeks.
Now when I put fresh CD-Rs (i.e. not already written, new) or a RW CD
in the CDRW drive, the drive reacts by telling me that there is no
writable CD in the drive. Furthermore, the "erase files" option is
absent when my RW CD is in the drive - it used to appear every time a
RW CD was in the CDRW drive.

I tried 4 cds - 2 RW CDs and 2 brand new CD-Rs. All failed to be seen
as writable CDs.
I get the impression that my CDRW drive has been transformed into a CDR
drive. It certaintly behaves like one.


HW or SW problem ?
Is my CDRW drive is salvageable ?,
Has any else expreienced this problem ?
Strange as it may be though, notwithstanding the "can't write" problem,
the CDRW drive seems to have no problems reading - I would have thougth
that if the optical mechanism started to fail, the reading aspect of
the CDRW drive would be affected as well.


P.S. I am using the integrated "write files to CD" feature that comes
with Windows XP, located in the windows explorer left panel.
P.P.S The CDRW drive is 5 years old. Brand: LG.

All help will be appreciated

Kind Regards
-Roger