external cd writer not opening

[pollyeve777]

my external cd writer/dvd rom has suddenly stopped working. when i plug it into the usb port, windows xp says there's a problem running the hardware and then it doesn't open.

[confus-ed]

I'm reading this as if you mean you've tried it on only one machine, so I'll say go & try it on another (preferably also trying another cable) & then we'll know if its software somehow or if the drive has something physically wrong ..

A note of the *exact* wording of any errors would also be handy ...:)