eljuank-
first I would discourage reinstalling OS as a panacea for all problems. reninstalling your os can only complicate matters in many cases...
try doing this:
right click on my computer, choose properties.
select the device manager tab.
click on where it lists "cdrom" and see if your cdrom is there. if so remove it and reboot. windows should recognise it and reinstall the drivers.
also, have you tried (in control panel) add/remove new hardware? this might find it...