Sony Vaio DVD ROM not working, can It be repaired?

So the laptop is more than 2 years old. the exact model is E-VPCEH26EG. The ext problem is unknown (I dont know whether this is a hardware problem or a software one.)

So it all started around 6 months after the Laptop was bought. It start to give me slight problems in reading DVDs, (and CDs too). What would happen in that when I'd insert a disc, I'll say "What to do with a black DVD" (meaning that it would think that the disc was black, im 100% sure that it w asnt. ) It was rarely happening so i ignored it, thinking that I must've inserted the disc wrongly.

So several months pass by and the issue becomes more frequent. But the drive still works. Eventually it became too much, I would read the disc even after taking it out and putting it back in again several times (saying that the disc is blank or sometimes that there isn't any disc in the drive.)

Then I once wiped the lens with a cloth (those that come with glasses) and it started to work for a few days. Then it was messed up again and the wiping didn't help. Then I went in the Device manager and tried updating the drivers but there were none available. Then I tried to disable/enable the drive and it work a few times but the drive was never actually 'healed'

It is showing up in My Computer and I can even eject it from there. Device manager says that its working properly.



I dont know what to do, is this a hardware problem? Was my drive defected? Can any one provide some drivers which i can download and try?

And can a laptop's DVD drive be replaced? Thanks, im looking forward for some help!