Acer corruption

I have an XP Acer Aspire 5000 laptop that has become corrupt and is in need of a rebuild
The DVD ROM drive is not behaving - appearing as a DVD RAM in "my computer" (although the device manager reports it correctly as a the correct model LITEON DVD) and the BIOS doesn't allow booting from USB - So what is the procedure for a reinstall of Windows (either XP or 7) ?
Short of obtaining an external DVD drive and installing it via that.......... which is a only a "short term fix"
I have tried MS fault finder "FIX IT" - downloading on another machine and running on the laptop - it didn't even run properly (is it designed for 7 or XP) ?
Any advice welcome - before I fork out for a replacement.....