C D Drive Stopped Working - Laptop

[ChillDoubt]

Posting here in the hope that some of you techie type boffins can be of some assistance.
CD drive stopped working inexplicably a few weeks back. Dead, no orange light, can't get it to open (only with paper clip).
I did some research after error messages were coming up after installing latest version of iTunes and there was possibly a software conflict.
I followed the instructions for the fix (involving minor changes to the Registry) but to no avail. Error message has ceased but drive still dead.

I've removed and re-inserted it in the hope that that might rectify the problem but that hasn't worked. It's all the more puzzling because in Device Manager it says the drive is working, with no problems. Have even performed a driver update too but that hasn't solved matters.
If the drive is dead that's not a problem, £13 quid to replace on eBay but I'm going to wait on sound advice (hopefully!) from here first, particularly in light of the 'Device working properly' message in Device Manager.

In info/suggestions gratefully received, thanks in advance for any replies made.

[ChillDoubt]

Thanks for the reply methyl.

No, the drive doesn't show in My Computer, yet as I say is supposedly working fine in Device Manager, which is why I wanted some advice before ordering a new one, in the fear that the problem may persist with replacement hardware.

The drive itself is a Hitachi, I've got a HP Pavillion dv9000 (roughly 6/7 years old) working on Vista, 32 bit.

[SlackAlice]

I know you said you have Vista but is this the Reg Edit fix you tried?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982116

I've used this in Vista for a stroppy drive and it worked.