ATAPI device errors

[Patrick Dohman <pdohman@comcast.net>]

My CDROM & CDRW are problematic. I am running a 2.4.24 kernel. I suspect
a hardware problem but I am unsure if the problem lies with the CDROM,
CDRW or the IDE/ATAPI controler. Basically the the issue boils down to
having one or both of the drives fall offline after a day or two of
uptime. My logs are spammed with this.

:hdd: packet command error: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error}
:hdd: packet command error: error=0x40
:ATAPI device hdd:
:Error: Hardware error -- (Sense key=0x04)
:(vendor-specific error) -- (asc=0x90, ascq=0x00)
:The failed "Test Unit Ready" packet command was: 
:"00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 "

Is there a more verbose form of logging I can enable. Any clarification
is very much appreciated. 
Thank you