How can I fix my (DVD RW) Optical Drive?

Hey all….

I have a problem with my (standard dvd rw) optical drive not opening. I have a very high spec desktop pc, and my previous (Pioneer) optical drive was very intermittent with it’s opening, the green light would show but not open. The drive had hardly been used to be honest, but after reading various threads, it seemed liked this particular model had known issues, so I put it down to a dodgy drive and today replaced it with a good reviewed Sony Optiarc AD-7621. And the same thing is happening! Brand new drive, green light shows, still wont open. I’m pretty competent with PC’s (upgraded, modded etc) and dont normally have any problems but this is really bugging me! I have updated the firmware, i’ve uninstalled the drivers, both dvd drive and Intel RST AHCI SATA ones too….still the same. I have also tried different SATA ports, no luck. Oh, and i’ve even deleted the ‘Upperfilters’ from the Registry, but no.
By the way, it’s an X58 board with an i7 920. As far as the BIOS and device manager is concerned, the drive is functioning correctly! lol but it isnt at all! Can anyone please shed some light on this as I really would like to open this damn thing before I do a Basil Fawlty & hit it with a branch! :-)
I had one warning about an I/O error, which i’m guessing is the culprit, but I already rolled back my SATA AHCI driver. What else can I do?
Cheers people!
Walshy