This is often caused by a virus.
Reboot - Hit f8 during reboot and choose to boot to the dos prompt.
Type FDISK /MBR
Turn power off.
Reboot and see if cdrom is there.
If not, this may be caused by problems with windows
using a 16 bit driver instead of the better 9x 32 bit driver.
If the fdisk trick does not work;
1. boot into safe mode
2. go to device manager
3. remove your ide controller - it might be listed more than once
4. reboot and let windows find the controller.
5. That usually does the trick.
6. might have to go into control panel and ask windows to
redetect the ide controller.

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