CD-RW not working - PLEASE HELP!!! - bcuz Gateway sucks

[fennel3469]

My stupid Gateway computer (never ever buy Gateway!!! learn from my fatal-ill-informed error) CD-RW drive cannot read my CD-RWs, I can still burn CDRs and it reads CD's, but it cannot see/read the CD-RWs. I called Gateway Tech support and they want me to re-format my harddrive. Any suggestions?
and to top it off,my sound is now gone!

Help Please

[LPMiller]

well, likely the ASPI layer is hosed. If sound isn't working too, you might have a low level corruption within windows, which is usually only fixable by reformating, though sometimes you can find the bad files and have Windows replace it. If you use ME, run a Restore to a date when it was working. If you use 98, under Accessories system tools I believe there is a program that will scan windows and look for corrupt files.