Troubleshooting my optical drive

[Max Jambon]

My optical drive (TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C) keeps giving me this error when I try to put a dvd in it.
The error in question is a dialog that says:

Insert disc
Insert a disc
Please insert a disk into drive G:
"Help me choose a disk" (hyperlinked)
Cancel

I've tried updating drivers and reinstalling the drive (when I uninstalled it, windows 10 refused to detect it going forward. Luckily I was able to restore a previous restore point)

 

[Bighorn]

What type of computer? I find the first thing to do with Desktops is to shut down and pull out the power cord then wait for several seconds for residual power to drain from the motherboard, restart and try again. Same for Notebooks if the battery is easily removable.

Sometimes it helps to open the tray and use canned air to blow out any dust, also use of a cleaning disc will work.

 

[Grizzly]

Sometimes it helps to open the tray and use canned air to blow out any dust, also use of a cleaning disc will work.

true with one exception, the cleaning disk is useless and cause more harm to the laser because the brushes can easily scratch the lense on the laser preventing it to focus. To clean the laser I always use 90% alcohol and a Q-tip. one end for the cleaning, the other for the drying. DO NOT put pressure on the lens or it will be de-adjusted.
One possibility though is that the laser has gone bad and cannot read a disk therefore giving you an error message.