Acer 6406EU problems

Hi all -

The Acer 6406EU external USB CD-RW drive I have had with my Compaq
5WV254 running Windows XP Professional for about two years has stopped
recognizing any type of discs whatsoever, .mp3, .cda, .exe, etc. etc.
and also does not recognize the Verbatim DataLifePlus discs that it
would previously burn without any problem. The CD-RW worked fine for
about a year and a half and then started having this problem.

The PC recognizes the drive as being a USB CD-RW drive, as well as
Prassi Primo, Nero Ahead, and the Windows XP-Roxio system CD burning
programs, but when I pop a CD-R into it, it does not recognize the disc.
I contacted BenQ, the company that took over Acer, about this and they
sent me links to download the newest driver and Nero Ahead software. I
reinstalled the CD-RW as instructed with the new driver and also the
Nero Ahead software, but I'm still having the problems described above.

Has anyone else had this kind of problem? Is there a solution? Should I
just make the assumption that the drive/software is toast and buy an
internal DVD-RW drive for an upgrade?

Just wanted to see what my options were.

Thanks.

JP Abinader