Windows 7: Optical Drive not functioning

I have a Toshiba Satellite Laptop which is running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
I don't know how long it has been since the DVD drive stop functioning.

Whenever I insert a factory DVD,CD, or even custom/ blanks my drive does not recognize the inserted device. For some reason, which I cant understand, the drive itself clocks, but the OS isn't recognizing anything. When I checked the drivers, it said they were up to date.



What can I do to have this function again?

well let's see if the computer even recognizes the device (it may be physically damaged somehow)
open the device manager (control panel - system - device manager)
Find the cd/dvd device in the list (should appear under DVD/CD-rom drives)
Right click the device choose and choose uninstall.
You will want to reboot after uninstalling (the system may or may not prompt you to do so)

You might want to check the BIOS to see if the drive is recognised - the default setting is Auto-Detect.

If not after the above
Try this:
Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs
Your CD or DVD drive can't read or write media
The CD drive or the DVD drive does not work as expected on a computer that you upgraded to Windows Vista