I will pull the plug on anybody changing software on my computer. 

The DVD/CD writer will not read nor write anything.  The light comes on and that's it.  

It cannot be software as I've booted to a live Ubuntu Linux and it doesn't work with that either.  If it were a Windows Vista problem then booting to Ubuntu would have cured the problem.  As that isn't the case it's obvious to me that the DVD is shot.  It was unusual that both the DVD and CD lasers went so perhaps there is an interface problem.  

Of all the hardware I own and work with the CD/CDRW and DVD/CD/writer's cause me the most grief.  They are slow, sometimes won't read and then mess up my CDRW disk that I use to back up my books.  

I thought this SATA drive would cure some of those ills but that hasn't been the case.   Reading some reviews of different drives it appears I'm not alone.  Nor do they have a reputation for long lasting.