cdrw drive not active in Windows ME system P-4 1300 w rambus 768 mb memory

hello all:

Recently running into probem with cdrw drive. It is not recognizing any of
recorded / or even fresh cdrw discs. Only response upon insertion of any
disc and attempt is made to access contents: "please insert disc" etc.

Recently I have begun using CC Cleaner to clean out invalid reg entries and
other stuff. Have run regscan with no errors showing. Have been using
Roxio Easy CD Creator - reinstalled same. Also tried removing cdrw drive in
Device Mgr - but after deleting drive and re-starting windows there is no
notice of new hardware found when re-booting.

Has registry cleaner somehow screwed up communication between drive and
system - ?
Is it just a drive failure? Drive opens /function light is amber - accepts
cdrw disc / light goes grn hear a whir - then goes dark and although drive
is again present in device mgr - it does not read any disc.

Help?
I do have an older Plextor cdrw and thinking of installing ?
Suggestions?
Thnx.
Barry