I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS installed on my computer (Sony Vaio VGN-NS205N). It reads some CDs and DVDs just fine, but many others it will not recognize at all, or will only recognize after opening and closing the CD tray many times. It just shows the cd/dvd drive as being empty and won't show that anything is on there at all. I have a few DVDs (from the same publisher) that work every time. This comes up most often when trying to show my kid Bob the Builder, etc. Some data CDs I would like to work with also have the same issue.

It's not a hardware or defective disc problem, since all these will play in Windows on the same machine. It's just really annoying to have to switch operating systems to play videos or get data off discs.

All the searches I have done people recommend installing medibuntu and other repositories. I have and they are all up to date. No change.

Any help that works would be greatly appreciated.