DVD Burner wont detect blank CDs

i wasnt sure where to put this so its here

i was burning a learn japanese cd for the mrs, and nero completed with a burn failed message

and ever since then my DVD Burner wont detect blank CDs, and it is also very hit and miss with any CD media

DVD recognition and burning still works fine, just CDs it doesnt like

now i have tried uninstalling and reinstalling nero, even upgrading from nero 7 to nero 8, did not fix the problem

i also tried updating the firmware for the DVD burner, to no avail

the DVD burner is the Asus DRW-1814BLT

so... anyone have any ideas??

Thanks in advance

RellikZephyr