Found a great solution for fixing a CD-ROM hardware missing in XP at http://sillydog.org/forum/sdt_9200.php. Many thanks to the dude at sillydog.org.
Here is the breif version:
CD-ROM shows in Device Manager with yellow exclamation. Error code 41 or 39.
To fix this problem, I performed the following:
Start Registry Editor (Start, Run and type in regedit then click)
Find “UpperFilters” and “LowerFilters” (and “UpperFilters.bak” “LowerFilters.bak“, if they exist) value under the following key in the registry, and delete it:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Quit Registry Editor.
Reboot.
NOTE: You might need to reinstall any CD recording apps you have, if they start to not work completely, after doing this.