Right, lo all.

My machine crashed a few days ago and when I rebooted, neither my CD-ROM drive or my CDRW drive were detected. The light on my CD drive stays on and it doesn't open. Everything was alright before it crashed. I wasn't doing much before the crash, just browsing. My mobo's an ASUS A7V8X-X, drives.. not sure about models, but CD is an AOpen and CDRW a Lite-On (though I doubt it's a problem with the drives themselves).

Any help appreciated, thanks.

I think this might sound silly though, but have you make sure that the IDE cables and molex connectores are properly attached to the CD Drives?

Well, I doubt the cable could have suddenly come loose . I did take the cable out and reconnect it, but no avail. The molex connectors must be in properly, cos the light on my CD drive stays on and my CD RW drive actually opens, so there must be power.

poertner_1274, yes my drives are on the same ribbon.

You'd be surprised at how often they just come loose on their own. The cable doesn't even have to come completely loose, just a bit of bad connection can cause a problem. I'd also suggest plugging it in and unplugging it a few times to make sure there is no oxidation that may be causing bad connection.
Might also try another ribbon cable if you have one.

Same as I said above can apply here too. You may have a connection, enough for lights and for the door, but not for proper operation. Unplug and reconnecct to ensure a good connection. Might also try another connector as well, to completely rule it out as a possibility.

Yep, tried disconnecting and reconnecting the cables, but no change . Think I'll have to get another IDE cable, just so I can test it.