I have a 4100 series Averatec laptop with windows XP. A while ago my CD/DVD drive stopped working, and wasn't showing up either in my computer or in device manager. So I switched it out for a friend's drive and got it to work after putting it in by scanning for hardware changes in the device manager. So I figured the problem was just with my drive, so I bought a different one, but when I put it in, it still won't show up on my computer and this time device manager can't find it. However, it opens when I push the button, and it made a lot of noise when I put a CD in to see if it would read it. What do I need to do to get it working?

What kind of cd drive is it, IDE, sATA, SCSI? On IDE, check the jumper settings on the cd drive. I guess, it should be set to slave drive. Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!

I'm not sure. It's a lite-on model SOSW-852S 8X DVD±RW drive

Ah sorry, I haven't noticed, that you have a loptop. So have you tried to set the BIOS settings to factory default? Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!

how do I do that?

I don't know that Averatec 4100 series machine, but mostly it's one of the F-keys to enter the BIOS. Often F2 key. In the BIOS, where you can exit the BIOS, there should be an option the set it to it's default values. Please send a reply, if you solved the problem !!!

I think you need to check your Device Manager if your DVD/CD-ROM Drive is in the list what you need to do is to update the driver. If this workaround didn't work, try to remove the DVD/CD-ROM drive on your laptop and mounted back it again.