Is there a way to prove it is the drive that is faulty?
There probably is, cos I use a desktop pc, and not a laptop (the scum of
proprietary hardware imho and I avoid them like the proverbial plague
for those reasons), I'd usually swap the drive over. That quickly tells
me if I'm right. Unfortunately, with the nature of laptops, that's not
so easily done.
You could try a few things:
1. Update the kernel
2. Update the firmware for the dvd device (if at all possible, which I
doubt with a laptop). Not easy to do anyways, since most firmware
updaters are either dos or windows based.
3. Make sure that the DVD disks are ok (try them in a known working dvd
rom drive etc).
4. If you have the ability, try an external dvd rom drive (preferably
firewire), it'd be slow, but if it works, then it'd disprove a kernel
issue I feel.
5. What does lspci show? Does it show seek errors for that drive?
6. Check that you're a member of the audio and video groups, check the
permissions on the dvd drom device etc etc. Basic permissions stuff.
7. Does the disk play normal audio CDs and/or data CDs ok? For audio
CDs i'd suggest using kscd - I feel that as long as the audio cable goes
to the dvd rom drive, and you have the permissions correct, and the
right device selected in kscd, if it fails to still play, it's a
hardware issue.
Is the machine still under warranty? If so, I'd return it for testing.
Make the manufacturer earn their $$$.
I am quite new to Debian, so any help will be appreciated.
That's OK. I've been using Debian or Debian based distros now for 3,
nearly 4 years, and I'm still learning every day.
Larinia
Best wishes,
Dave