CDs Not being read

Alright.
I have a Pretty new Laptop computer running a 64 bit version of Windows Vista. I ended up downloading something that must have messed up my CD-Rom.
What happens when I put a CD in is I hear the whirring sound for a second and then.... nothing. so I try and manually open the cd from the computer folder and when I click on the "DVD RW Drive (E: )" and it tells me to insert a disk.
I have tried different CD's with the same result.
I have tried to reinstall the Driver- but it did not help.
I tried calling asus help and they said I'd have to reinstall Windows... at first I didn't want to, but now that I am considering it I'm wondering how to do that since I can't use my CD ROM... I'm sure there's a website I could find it on but I talked to my brother and he asked about the "controller".

I then returned to my post trying to avoid having to reinstall my whole OS.

SO I tried to look up how to reset the controller online and only found a way to force the computer to re-detect it's devices... unfortunately this was written for a XP pro edition of windows. here is a link to that article:

http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/ [...] p?t=280454

I was trying to execute the "second option" mentioned but when I went into the device manager I have four options under the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" drop down menu.

First off- would this be a good method to get my CD-Rom to work again?
If not- What would you recommend?

I look forward to the help of this form, I've read that it's very thorough and quick
-Rachael

PS. I also tried returning to a restore point closer to a time when my CD-Rom was working but I then received a message that said it could not do this while the C: drive was in use.... which was a bit aggravating. I'm pretty sure that covers everything I've tried. Thank you