I have a problem with the dvd drive on my hp dv2000t laptop.

I first noticed that my drive wasn't showing up anything when I tried to install stuff off of a cd. It isn't in device manager, bios, or anywhere.

I later decided to install my OS all over again. Since it is on the hdd, I didn't need the cd. The drive still didn't show.

Now it is getting frustrating. My network no longer works (after the fresh install) and I suspect it is norton. My drive doesn't work. I can't transfer anything.

I decided to see if I put in the hp recovery disk and restart the pc. Alas, it booted that. It seemed to go very slow. I took it out and proceeded back to the desktop to see my drive in My Computer. I restart, it is gone again.

I do some googling. I find a registry for the upper and lower filters. I can't delete..not even in safe mode.

What could be the problem?

Is there anything in the drive right now? Can you confirm to me that there isn't a stuck CD before we begin troubleshooting?

Can you open the drive or has it frozen completely?

it still opens