[ale] OOT : Intermittent New Drive DVD

[fostermail at bellsouth.net]

I don't know what's wrong with this thing; It's a Memorex +/-DLRWL1 F16. When I put it in its intended destination, it wouldn't work, and I ruled out the jumper\ribbon cable problems. 
On another machine it would not be made to work with SuSE 9.1, I think. Then in still a different dual-boot modern box, it came up, reading, then with one non-functional episode between even pretended to write a data DVD, and now again reverts to original.  I know less about the DVD, but I'm familiar with the noise the head makes when it finds the beginning of a good disk.

The error is consistent across OS and hardware, (in SuSE 9.3:) "No Medium Found."
This is mount without flag or switch in a root window, to e.g. /cdrom, /media/cdrom
I am wondering if this is something I can nudge with an obscure module, since I am putting off shipping to Memorex, or getting a warranty claim number.
Glenn