optorite cw5201 wont read disks

i have an optorite cw5201 cd burner thats giving me some trouble.

put simply it doesn't read commercial disks of any sort, they come up as blank cd's (although obviously i can't burn anything to them).

i can still read and write cd-rs and cd-rws. even copies of disks that don't work otherwise.

i have updated pretty much every driver on the computer whether or not its related to the cd drive. i ahven't tested the drive in another computer yet, although i did boot my computer using a linux live cd (usually run win xp), and the problem is the same in linux (but with fewer lock ups). optorite no longer exists so i can't track down and update the firmware.

any clues how to fix this without buying a new drives or reformating?