Help DVD RW not recognised

Welcome to WD forums philbee.

I'd doubt its a hardware issue, as it'd seem strange that both DVD rom & writer died at once (maybe though sp2 could be a cause as it definately can conflict with some versions of writing applications), & since this question includes a writer, it'd seem safe to assume we have burning software of some sort about - & is it possible that we have multiple lots of burning s/w ?... probably methinks .. ( I think I'd test both units for 'workingness' though by trying to boot from at least one with a windows cd, to make sure we haven't got a faulty IDE cable or perhaps motherboard IDE controller issues, he says rethinking his 'its not hardware' line ;))

Try this tool to look at things called 'class filters' (these add functionality to windows native drivers which can only read) .. look at the output it produces like so ..
https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2005/11/1.gif

If there's anything between 'redbook' (or 'some book', as its possible to have white, orange or red in this place & 'impai.sys') then you've got some filter drivers installed by your writing apps (you can generally spot the products involved by driver name) - these are well known for conflicting with each other, & the usual answer is to remove all these products (though with this tool you could just stop the drivers loading for now if you know how..) & then add back each writing application until you can figure out what's conflicting with what.

Edit: flaming red x's ! .. grrrr ! :D