2 Problems: Can't Read CDs and all external media requires formatting

[seaders]

Hey all, first post, I've kept in touch with this forum for a while, and have found many usefull stuff here, from back when you were windowsxpforums. Although, I've now got a problem that I can't find an answer to.

As the title suggests, I've two problems with my WinXP OS.

OS:
WinXP Pro

System:
Compaq Evo N610C

CD-Drive:
Hitachi GCC-4241N (CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo)

Tested Media:
Nike PSA MP3 Player, iRiver, USB Camera


So, this isn't my machine, but at the moment, it's up to me to fix it. For no apparent reason (that I can see, anyway), windows would not / could not read CDs anymore. I really don't think that there's anything physically wrong with the drive as I can actually read CDs if I use an independent program, like ISOBuster, it reads CDs no problem and I can access all the files from there. I can also write to CDs via Nero, and even add to previous multisession writes.

That's the first problem, in as much detail as I think it needs.

Next one (and I think it's probably related) is the fact that if I connect any any external media to the laptop, it says that the drive is not fomatted and needs to be, to be read. The thing is that there's nothing wrong with any of the media, they work on any amount of other machines. Again, I don't think that it's a physical problem, because they're all connected via USB and that works grand with the mouse and stuff.

So that's the problem, these issues weren't there about a month ago and to me, seemed to have sprung up without any reason. Any help at all would be much appreciated.