Here's the new development: the burner still spins up but will not mount/read anything, so I FINALLY got the idea to see if it would notice a blank. Put the blank in and it mounted an icon to the desktop, and popped up a "you just inserted a blank dvd. Do you wish to burn a disc with:"!!!! So I have a drive that will read, and another that will burn! Technically I guess I have what I need! Still be nice to have both read, but maybe I shouldn't push my luck!
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)