My external cd rom is not working

is your external cdrom connected via pcmcia, usb?? what is the model of the external drive? also are there any yellow icons in the device manager?

it is Matsushita USB device

Matsushita is the brand. does it have a model?

no

did the external drive work before? when did it stop working? did something change? are there any yellow icons in the device manager?

you got it..it was working well and now it has stopped working..the computer does not respond to it.. but i can insert the cd/dvd

sounds like you need a new external drive then.

you bet! the internal cd rom does not respond either

Does it make any weird sounds?
Do you see it in My computer?
To simple test it if the actual drive is the problem or the software U are using, ask someone who knows computers, to put a win cd in the drive, restart, fress F2 or del for Bios and set first boot device the cd rom. Save and restart. if the cd loads, then your cdrom drive is not the problem.
If your cd doesn't load then I agree with nhasian.
Just see if it loads , don't press anything, just restart, go back to the bios and put your hard drive back to first boot.