I don't have a DVD.
well, where are we at?
Howlin, did you try and boot up with the xp cd?
OK, I've followed the whole thread up to this point.
First, since it happened following loading the (music?) CD that came with a book, what CD/book is that?
My first guess is that this CD has some form of virus or, more likely, some form of copy protection that was badly written and has hosed your drives. Knowing the CD/book will at least let the rest of us avoid it.
If the bug has simply disabled your CD drivers you may be able to actually delete the drivers and load new one. Going back to the reinstallation CD that came with your Dell system would be one way to do that.
Better yet, go out to Dell's web site and click on SUPPORT and go to the DOWNLOADs section. It will ask what system you want downloads for and will offer you the choice of picking from a list or putting in your systems Service Tag. If you can find the service tag (it should be on the back of the unit on a label marked "Service Tag") the Download system will actually know exactly which parts shipped with your Dell and only show you those drivers to download.
Second, I doubt very seriously that a cable came unstuck after running a CD. I am afraid, however, that the CD had some form of seek routine that forced one or both CD drive seek heads into an invalid region and physically damaged the CD drive. If one drive is physically damaged then both drives may not be recognized, since a fault on one might shut down the IDE channel.
You may be forced to open the box and disconnect first one drive then the other to test that theory.
Finally, Windows is a house of cards. I reload my Windows box at least every three months from scratch. "Repairing" windows is a joke.
As to my bona fides, I'm the client architect for a Fortune 100 firm with over 35,000 (Dell) PCs and have been in the PC business since the first West Coast Computer Faire in 1977. I am a member of Dell's Customer Advisory Council, which is made up of their top 25 corporate customers.
Been there, done that.
Given the amount of brain power already expended on this, in the long run it might be cheaper if each Freeper who has participated in this thread sent you $2 and let you buy a new system unit.