Problem with DVD/RW

Can you see the drive in Device manager? (Right-click on My Computer, go to Manage, on the left menu select Device Manager and look for the DVD/CD-ROM Drives dropdown)

It's possible that the device either got disabled in the BIOS or the device or its controller has died. Reboot the computer and see if the device is visible and enabled in the BIOS.

I had problems with my 5760's dvd drive disappearing. It turned out that when I installed Linux, grub modified my master boot record and caused my dvd drive to disappear. I do not know if your mbr could have been edited without your knowledge, but that is a possible cause of the disappearance.

Good luck in fixing the problem.

If you want to try to reset your mbr, you can try this http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d....mspx?mfr=true

Were that the case, I expect that he would not have been able to boot from the drive. I suspect it is entirely a Windows problem. I had the same problem with a HP USB DVD drive for which HP had me delete a registry key that upon reboot Windows re-created and my my drive was again recognized. I've not had that particular problem since performing the registry fix.

That it is a Windows problem could be verified by attempting to run a Linux Live CD like Knoppix and seeing if Linux recognizes that drive. If there's nothing wrong with the drive then the the worst case fix would be to re-format and re-install.

I agree that this sounds like a Windows issue, since the drive will boot the OS disc and allow you to work from it. Since the drive itself does not show up in Device Manager, you might try removing the IDE controllers and reboot to let Windows redetect them. I've seen that work in the past with similar problems.

If you're unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, in the Device Manager you should see an item labeled IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Hit the plus sign beside that and under it you should see a Primary and a Secondary IDE Channel. Usually, the Secondary channel is the one the DVD/CD drive is on. Rright click and choose to uninstall that item, then reboot the computer and let Windows redetect it. If that doesn't work you can try removing the Primary channel as well, just don't be alarmed if it tells you that you must immediately reboot. Do so and it should redetect it as well. At that point, if it worked there should at least be an entry in Device Manager for the CD/DVD drive again.

If removing the IDE Channels doesn't help, you might try a repair install of Windows, since the CD is working alright. It could be a corrupted registry key as mentioned previously, and the repair install could well resolve that.

If all else fails, you can try the manual registry key removal route, but I'd consider this a last course of action. Here is Microsoft's page on removing the registry entries that relate to the DVD/CD drive: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/en-us

I hope some of that may help.

Can you eject the whole drive and reseat it.
Maybe Windows will recognize it again.

I have had this problem before with my Sager.
It is the connector board. The only solution I have found
is to have the connector board replaced.
I sent it in to Sager to have it done.
If still under warranty... this is free.
If not, might cost a bit.