Please help

Hi all.

Recently my cd/dvd burner stoped reading cds. Its old so I figured it was dead. I bought a Pioneer 109 brand new and installed it. The computer picked it up but it still wouldnt read cds, it just claims there is nothing in the drive. I have tried and tested the followig:
Ribbon cable
Powersupply
IDE port
Slave master issue
Drivers T
ried it in safe mode
Tested other apps but they dont see a disk either
Various discs
Chip set
Various virus scans
Update to Windows
Deleted Nero

I am at my wits ends and have no idea what it could be. I throw myself on your mercy, if you can think of anything I could try then I will be eternally grateful.

I dont know if this is hardware of software but I am convinved the hardware is ok.
Thanks in advance Pete

 

Put in a bootable disk and see if it will read a bootable disk, if it does, then you know its a software issue

 

it wont detect a bootable disk. Also when I search for the drive in command prompt it wont show, it show in the bios though.

I have no idea what to try

 

Find someone with a PC you can borrow, and see if the drive works in theres. I bet ya the drive is defective.
.
.