optical drive problem with my all-in-one media centre (elonex)?

[voddy-monster]

The optical drive has conked out on my all-in-one Elonex. It doesn't recognise dvd when inserted. Device Manager states that Windows has loaded the device driver but cannot find the hardware device (code 41)..

If the PC were a tower, I would buy a replacement drive. However, the drive is more like a built in stereo you'd find in a new ford focus! It doesn't look like something I'd like to attempt to replace.

I have recently been advised that Elonex have gone under, so am not confident about getting an engineer round.

I'm, therefore, wondering if I could buy an external usb dvd drive and use that as an alternative optical drive? If so, can anyone suggest a decent, reasonably priced model?

Or, if anyone knows what a Code 41 is and if it is something I can resolve, I could try that!

Thank you very much,

Lee