Your problem could be a simple matter of hardware connection. Meaning, dust could be interfering with the communication from your CD-ROM. Depending on what version of Windows you have, the problem shouldn't be too difficult to fix. I had a similar problem with my floppy drive and CD-ROM drive when installing 98 onto one of my computers. All my computer needed was a good inside cleanup job. You could try for "Add new hardware" and see if your computer detects your RW. If you've checked your Device Manager and you can't seem to fix your RW problem by updating the driver or such, then disconnect the drive and try the "Add new hardware" again and let your system detect the drive and reinstall the proper driver for that drive.
I hope this helps. -----
Jeffrey Lee
deusromulus@rogers.com