Have you tried more than one blank? If it tried to write to one and failed the blank is useless now. If it is a RW then erase it before retrying it.
Assuming you tried more than one blank:
You want to force windows to reinstall the drive. To do that you go to device manager, select DVD CD Rom (not the IDE channel), select the drive, right click it and select uninstall form the menu. Then when it's done reboot. Windows will reinstall the drive and it's drivers. Reboot twice after the reinstall jsut to make sure, sometimes windows gets stupid(er).
Now - Check if the drive can read any store bought CD or DVD. If it can the drive is probably ok. If it can't you should have kept your receipt and registered the drive so you can return it.
If the drive read the CDs and DVDs in the step above now try and burn something. If it doesn't you may have a problem with the windows built in burning software. Install the OEM version of burning software that came with the drive and try again.
If you lost the burning software that came with the drive check google for free burning software or download the Nero demo software (note the demo will stop working after a while).