My Lite-On dvd-rw (SOHW-1693s) stopped reading CDs but will play DVDs. This behavior started after I installed Media Monkey. Have since uninstalled it. Running XP Pro. Can't figure out what is causing the problem.
Try to find a FIRMWARE upgrade for the drive. Usually it will be a program that will create a CD/DVD with the firmware on it that you put it to BOOT to the cd. Then it will update your firmware. Let us know what you find out.