by "seeing" the drive, he means does it show up in Device Manager, and in "My Computer"
Also try a bootable CD to see if it works outside the OS. You can also check the BIOS to see if the CD drive is listed there.
You can try reseating the IDE and power cables for the drive and see if that helps. If it still won't read discs, you probably have a dead CD drive. If it is under warranty, call tech support(they will have you go through the same stuff I mentioned, just play along, they may also want you to run a diagnostic which is a waste of time on a CD drive, just tell them it won't run) they'll then replace the drive. If it isn't under warranty, go buy a new drive.