My optical drive (TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C) refuses to see disks

I keep getting a dialog when I click on it, regardless whether there's a disc or not in the drive asking me to insert a disk.
The error in question is a dialog that says:


I've tried updating drivers and reinstalling the drive (when I uninstalled it, windows 10 refused to detect it going forward. Luckily I was able to restore a previous restore point) what should I do next?

Version 21H2 (OS Build 19044.3086)

Hi my guess is the drive itself is faulty. if you can try it on another computer.

if cleaning doesn’t help can get new drive for under 20 dollars.

Hi.
I had a similar problem if not the same.
My TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223C was not functioning after upgrade to Windows 10 64bits.
Today, I had to use CDDVD drive and had the same problem.
After all, this is what I did and seems like fixed the issue, so I write it here just for something to try.
I didn't know how to check the firmware of it, but I can see the ver: SB02 on the label of the this drive (I opened my PC),
so I went to:
Samsung SH-S223C Firmware Downloads - Firmware HQ

Then downloaded SB02, SB03, SB04, SB05, SB06, SB07 (latest version) of firmware.

Then, I watched this youtube video for how to upgrade the firmware:
rd #317 How to update firmware for Samsung SH S223C DVD RW - YouTube


What I had to do is run the executable file (firmware file) and it shows what is the current version of firmware and what will be the new firmware.
Tricky part is you cannot cancel this process once open firmware file (at least I could not even I click X to close the pop-up window).
According to youtube video, you update firmware one by one in sequence. My HW version was SB02, so I expect my firmware is SB02, so I executed firmware#SB03, but turned out that my current version was SB06. All I needed was to upgrade to SB07, but since I installed SB03, I had to go through SB04, 05, 06, and 07.
Every time you upgrade the firmware, it requires windows to restart, so it takes a bit of time, so that I enjoyed donuts and tea.
But, after all, with SB07 firmware version, my CDDVD drive now recognize CD (Sorry, I did not test with DVD).

I hope this will help and hope the explanation is understandable.

Good luck.

Do you still have the original Installation CD ?

You can find the Firmware version easy enough before doing anything.

Device Manager > Expand DVD/CD-ROM > right click on the Drive > Properties > Details > Hardware IDs.
Value first line, the firmware version is at the end.

The label on the drive only details the Firmware at the time of manufacture.

I just update to the latest Firmware, if there is one, following manufacturers instructions, never one by one. Also always getting firmware directly from the manufacturers support site.