CD-Rom Won't Work!!!

There's prolly nothing repairable about the unit. The low cost of replacing the entire thing with a new CD-ROM, or even a CD Burner renders "repair" impractical; it would cost far more to open it up, analyze the problem, secure parts, perform the repair, realign the laser and lenses, and reinstall it than to just plug a new one in.

Yah, that's what I thought of too... but then she said her friend tried hooking up his cd-rom to her computer to see if that would work... and for some reason it still did not work... so do you think he's just putting it in wrong? or is there possibly more damage done to the computer that needs to be repaired?

The drive essentially is a self-contained unit; its failure should have nothing to do with the rest of the host machine's operation. As long as the data and power cables are connected properly, the machine should recognize and mount the drive on boot. Drivers specific to the CD-Rom are probably a good idea, but generic drivers built in to Windows oughtta at least work.

Thanks, one last question though... what's the proper way to install a cd-rom?

Pretty simple - its the reverse of removing the old one. The instruction sheet that accompanies a new drive typically is just a single page, with big pictures. The only tool you're gonna need is a small phillips screwdriver. Make sure you connect the data cable and power cable correctly, connect the drive to your soundcard if necessary, and set the drive's jumpers to suit your application. The instruction sheet should make it very clear.

A brieft tutorial can be found Here