"When you have eliminated the impossible..."

I would repeat the removal/reinstallation, but reinstall only the LG, just
to be certain there isn't some weird interaction between them (which I
doubt).

This is probably a coincidental event. The LG's failure has nothing to do
with the installation or use of the Lite-On burner. You can confirm this by
installing the LG in another computer.

Some years back my computer's CD-ROM drive started acting crazy and
returning error messages. The firmware had apparently failed -- but not
enough to keep the drive from working altogether. Replacing the drive fixed
the problem.