CD-DRIVE problem

First, does the BIOS see the drive?
If no - drive, data cable, or power cable is bad.

You can swap cables, but the only to tell if the drive is bad is to try it in another computer.

good thing you can get a good sata 22x dvd/cd writer for around 30 bucks these days

Agreed check bios first and look for your drive.
Check the connectors (ide/sata) and then the power plug. If you are sure it's connected then get yourself a new drive. As said <$30.

If you do see it in the BIOS, try going to Device Manager and checking if there is some sort of driver-related issue with your OS.

I had a similar issue on my XP desktop. Device Manager showed the DVD drive working properly, but Windows Explorer did not see it. As a result, my DVD drive would not work. Here is what I did. Solution from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060

Windows XP
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.

Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only. If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to step 7.
5. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
6. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
7. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.

Note If you do not see the LowerFilters registry entry, unfortunately this content cannot help you any further. Go to the "Next Steps" section for information about how you can find more solutions or more help on the Microsoft Web site.
8. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
9. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
10. Exit Registry Editor.
11. Restart the computer.

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