Nero 9: "Waiting for the drive to become ready"

Hi folks,
I'd like to ask for help with this nightmare topic.
I have Pentium Dual core machine (6300)
4gb ram
Plextor DVD writer (PX-755A) - I have the latest firmware for this.

Up until recently all my burn jobs worked fine.
I turned on my PC on Monday and all of a sudden no burn jobs will write as Nero reports "Waiting for the drive to become ready" endlessly.

I have tried:

* Using ForceAspi 1.7 to brute force the Aspi layer - no joy
* Uninstalling Nero9, cleaning (using the tool from the Nero site) and reinstalling Nero9 - no joy
* Uninstalling/deleting the drive in Device Manager then redetecting it on reboot. - no joy
* Tried IMGBurn and that complains of the same problem ("Waiting for the drive to become ready").

I'm all out of ideas and the net isn't giving me any solid answers bar dodgy regedit hax which Im not keen to try..

Any ideas anyone please?

Thanks in advance.
C

 

Is the tray all the way in - can you push it back any more.

 

yes. the tray is all the way in.
any other ideas out there?

Are there any reg keys I can purge?
Can someone take me through it please if there are reg fixes for this?