@hp hahah i've kept way, way too many of these drives just to make sure i have a few working ones.

all of them needed replacement belts, but only a couple had weak lasers.

there were never any guarantees that a dvd-rom drive could read DVD+-R back in the day, unless it specifically said that in the manual (and even then, it was hit/miss depending on the DVD brand/formulation)

i've found that if a laser can't read a +-R disc, it's not worth trying to force it to.

my sega cd, however, did teach me that when they stop reading factory-pressed discs, it's because the laser has weakened and *can* be replaced!