Broken DVD-ROM?

[Evan Shea]

Hey everyone.  Okay, this is a vain attempt at finding some hope that 
my DVD drive isn't broken in my Ti500.  Basically, I first noticed 
peculiar behaviour when I restarted my 'book and it ejected the CD.  
Usually the CD will happily stay in the drive.  Now, the drive refuses 
to read a CD at all (it would read CDs somewhat erratically for an hour 
or two, but now I can't get it to do anything).  Is there ANY 
possibility this is simply a software problem?  If it is hardware, I 
imagine I'm going to have to replace the drive.  Has anyone else had to 
do this and could give me a possible price quote/range?  Thanks!

-Evan