cannot get cd rom working?

[cricket]

a friend of mine has the same type of computer i do which is the dell demension 8200. he said that his cd drive will not work anymore and in the device manager it shows the yellow symbol that it is not working next to it. so he tried numerous times to uninstall it from device manager and reboot but it always gives him the yellow symbol( not working). so a dell techie came to his place and installed a brand new cd rom drive and the same thing happens (some great dell techies they are: installs new cd rom and cant get it working either then leaves the guys hanging without a working cd rom drive ..but anyways back to the problem)
i asked my buddy what he was doing on or around the time this all started, he said their was power failure's in around where his compouter is located and maybe that has something to do with it. he also said he has installed and uninstalled some burning software like nero and/or roxio. i mention this because in the dell forums there is a few post that say because you installed/uninstalled certain cd burning software , that this may or can happen( cd stops working)
does anyone have an other idea;s on this and how we can get it working again?

[Powerworks]

Step #1.. Pick up your dell..

Step #2... Postion yourself near a second story window..

Step #3.. Open the Window

Step #4 Thrust the Dell Towards the open window..

Step #5 Listen to the satisfying crunch of your POS dell hitting the ground..

yep, Dell sucks.. can't wait to get the parts for my new pc ;)

I would try to get dell to replace the cdrw again.. I don't know.. I hate dealing with their support.