DVD/CD Writer Disappeared

Hello,

First of all just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this.

I have a Dell Inspiron 9400/E1705 w/ Vista SP1.  It's my most problematic Dell by far, 6th one.  This is my 2nd DVD/CD writer and this one is refurbished Sony/NEC/Optiarc Model AD-5560A.  Now this one just disappeared.  I haven't used the rom in a couple weeks but I have not installed anything on the system and have a anti-virus running at all times  and has been updated.  Drive does not show up in My Computer or Device Manager.  First, I removed the drive and started the computer back up.  Shut down and put the drive back in and restarted.  No luck.  Probably wasting my time because there is no power getting to the drive.  There would be a green or amber light and making noise.  Any suggestions?? 

I guess that's what ya get when they give me a refurbished drive.  Appreciate any suggestions,

  *** because I'm broke.  Was going to burn videos of my daughters first Christmas last year. 

Note of other problems that Dell has not fixed w/ this model is when you go into sleep mode the screen resolution will change.  Windows start-up is slowest in the history of Windows and all i have loading is Anti-virus, wireless connections and dell drivers/software. 

Thank you for your Help!!

Sincerely,

Ryan