Argh! Blank CD-Rs not recognzied on neither DVD/CDRW combo nor DVD R drive

[Zombie]

I just want to put it out there that I am computer savvy and afaik this isn't a hardware related issue. It's got to be a software problem.

I've scanned multiple forums/google'd the problem, only to find 1 common answer.

"The laser/drive went bad"

Thats not the case though, because it happened to both my drives simultaneously, and they can still read blank DVDRs and regular discs. The DVDRW can write to DVDRs perfectly as well. It has to do with Windows, I'm thinking of doing a format, but I want to go over all possible options.

Another note: Its not the CDs, I've tried 2 different brands and both work perfectly on 2 other systems.

EDIT: I forgot to mention what I've attempted so far:
Toggling the drives at my computer disable/enabling them
Pulling the IDE/power then reinserting

[brandon184]

Did you try restarting your computer?

[dafanman]

Zombie,

What mb do you have?... If its a nforce2 chipset board, did you install the nvidia sw ide drivers?, if so uninstall them and on reboot, install the microsoft ide drivers that are part of your os.

do you have sp2 installed?

Laterz,
dafanman