Howdy!

I have been having weird luck with my dvd/cd-rw drive on my Dell Inspiron XPS (the first XPS notebook model they made). It works a lot of the time but not all the time, and it seems to have disk preferences or something. I'm addicted to the Sims 2, and the problem first arose when the Seasons expansion pack was the latest. It worked every 7th or 8th time I put the disk in the drive. The problem cleared up when I got the Bon Voyage expansion disk, and that one almost always works the first time. However, a lot of other disks (games, audio cds, DVDs, and all) are now working only sporadically and there are a couple I just can't get it to recognize. The drive always appears in My Computer and Device Manager always shows the drive as installed and working fine, but it simply says, "DVD/CD-RW Drive (D:)" and is empty when I open it. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the drive and updating the drivers to no avail.

Any ideas out there?

That's normal with some drives. Not just the type, but the brand as well. Some work and some don't.
Some drives are more versatile than others.

It could be the drive is getting ready to retire. Dvd-drives do.

Might look for a way to clean the drive.

If your desperate, then see if there is updated firmware. That should only improve on the drive.

Hope it's any help.

It could just be that the lens needs cleaning. You can purchase a disc which has a couple of soft brushes that might help.

and if the lens cleaning doesn't work, try cleaning and polishing the disk

I use eyeglass cleaner and a handkerchief, gently wiping across the center, repair kits are fine also if you follow the directions

Wash detergent is also effective. Don't expect it works forever though, if you make it work, backup asap.

mild soap solution is effective for cleaning contaiminents but some sort of polishing needs to be applied to scuffs/scratches to enable to laser to read thru the plastic protective coating

toothpaste or pledge is even used. but I tear out anyones arms that abuse my disks that much

laptop optical drives are iffy at best, they do well to last a year or two under moderate use, more a toy than a tool

You are probably right.
Dish detergent has done it for me on several occasions. So it can be done.
It was a recommendation from a a friend and it does work wonders sometimes.
Sufficient for the casual geek.

Important disk should have a backup copy, no doubt, but it depends on the frequence on use.
Disk could outlast man under the right conditions.
About 10 year old verbatim I've seen in perfect working condition, if my memory serves me.

The discs I've been trying to load are brand new, very clean. I work in music and used to be a disc duplicator, so I know lots of tricks for cleaning and polishing from serious experts. Clear denture adhesive is actually the best thing I've found for fixing scratches and stuff, was highly recommended and has saved many of my discs.

However, these particular discs I'm trying to load are all very clean with no scratches and they mostly work some of the time, just not all the time. Now I've also discovered that it won't write DVDs, even though I've confirmed it is actually a DVD+RW/CD-RW drive. I keep getting closer to having it all work (finally got it to recognize blank DVD+Rs and load files, but it won't actually step up and write them, more discs are being read than recently), but just can't seem to break through and make it just right. I cleaned the lens thoroughly and it helped, just not enough.

Thanks for trying, though! I think the first response was likely closest. It's getting old and cranky.