DVD/CD Drive Issues

I've got a strange error and I can't figure it out.

I'm running XP SP2 on a Dell Dimension.

I ran a small system update and had to reboot. When my system came back up, my two DVD drives no longer appeared in My Computer. In their place were FOUR CD-ROM drives (which don't do anything). So now, the DVD drives are unusable. I can't read or burn discs. The same thing happened even when I booted in Safe Mode.

System Restore was unable to work.

I tried doing the regedit trick to have windows re-recognize the drives. No Change.

The Device Manager still sees the DVD drives (The mystery CD drives are not in there). I tried to uninstall them and scan for new hardware. The DVD drives reappeared in the Device Manager, but the problem still remained. No DVD drives in "My Computer." Only these four CD drives.

I haven't installed any new CD/DVD burning software lately.

I assume that this is some sort of spyware mumbo-jumbo, but Malware Bytes didn't help, either.

I'm close to calling Dell and paying $50 to diagnose the problem, but I'd like to try all options before that.

Anyone have any ideas on how to solve this mystery?

Thanks so much.

We can fix this kind of problems by accessing your computer via remote desktop. Feel free to visit DigitalSupportTech for getting help.