I had the same problem but with XP, and I also had to re-install the DVD drive. I don't think it is vista related. In mycase it was probably because I had several programs for burning, so one might have broken my drivers.
My mother had a problem with her laptop and it was because she had an old version of Roxio (not supported on XP), and I had to unistall the program, and re-install the driers for the drive