Before I send it off to Support...

I have had a dv5000 series laptop for just over a year.
It has been essential for a business project I have been working on and now it seems to be giving up on me...

I have had some issues with the keyboard for most of the time, mainly with the left shift and ctrl keys sticking occasionally. Fortunately, jabbing on them usually fixes it.
I think this is a fairly common issue on the HPs.

Secondly, one of the reasons I got this particular model was that it had XP Media Center Edition installed and it has digital sound output. As a Home Theater enthusiast I was hoping to use this to hook up to my system and watch DVDs with. (My old Home Theater PC was getting a little old and underpowered.)
However, the 5.1 channel digital output of this model has much to be desired, with frequent sounds drop-outs during movie playback. (It seems fine with 2.1 stereo sound, however.) Anyone know whether this is a hardware or software driver limitation?

(I tried upgrading the drivers shortly after purchase, but it didn't clear up the issue.)

Finally, the reason this must go in for repair is that the DVD drive is no longer showing up in Windows. I can open the caddy and place a disc in it, but no playback. I tried HP QuickPlay (which runs under another OS) and still it doesn't play the movie. So I'm thinking something's disconnected.
Anyone had a similar problem? Is it repairable at home?

All I can say is that I'm glad I paid for extended warranty. For three reasons - the problems occured after the 1 yr warranty expired and I won't be having to deal with HP to get it fixed... I will also get a replacement while I wait. Now that has to be worth the extra $$$.