When you boot up your computer, can you get in the BIOS? in there, you should see a list of drives (hard drive and cd/dvd/a
. if your cd-r drive is in the list, then it's a problem in windows i would think. if it's not there, then you have a problem. open the computer (side panels) and check if the power cables and flat-gray cables(IDE) are correctly plugged in. also, check what your power supply is. 250? 300? 350? it's possible you're not getting enough power to the drive.
If you have a 2nd computer that's working, i suggest taking the defective drive and trying it in the 2nd computer to test it out. that way you'll be sure.
good luck with your problem!