I sorta had the same problem..

I installed Nero but it didn't support by burner so I uninstalled it and low and behold, no cd-roms anymore, somehow Nero buggered up something in the registry and I was left up the creek without a paddle. The only solution I could I could find was to backup all my data to another hard drive, then do a fresh install of XP.
 
Hope you can find a better solution!!

2 week ago, I have same problem. I remove the DVD and CDRW on Device Manager, Reboot computer 2-3 times and thery appearing.
 
For Nero, I know for my TDK24/10/40 web site, thery have a update to 5.5.5.1 for XP
 
Good Luck!

Microsoft solution: check Windows XP Registry to find the two keys "LowerFilters" and "UpperFilters" in this Dword:
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-0 87002BE10318}
 
Some programs add an extra letter in those keys and the CD-ROM disappears from Explorer. To restore CD-ROM drive access simply remove them.

Also burning cannot work correctly on many computers when the Via Ide Busmaster driver and the full Creative Play Center are both present and active.

Yep I did the VIA bus thing and now my burner does not work right at all. Nero and fireburner work great but just reading a CD is very hard..

which version of nero are you using? 5.0x or 5.51x?
 
i know that 5 has problems with 5.0x.
 
maybe you already tried but just to make sure, download the latest nero which works with XP properly which is 5.5
 
hope that helps

I finally got my problem fixed.
 
My system:
Gateway 6400 server w/SCSI
SCSI HDD
Motherboard IDE: factory CDR on primary master, Liteon 12x CDRW on secondary master
Maxtor PCI Ultra100/IDE card with two HDDs.
Soundblaster Live Value
1394 firewire PCI card
No other hardware
WinXP Pro
 
My inconclusive findings:
1) Clean install from format did NOT fix the problem. My LiteOn 12x burner was still NOT recognized as a CDRW.
2) The "upperlimit/lowerlimit" registry fix did NOT fix anything.
3) Initial install of MS CDRW update patch did NOT fix the problem. XP burning capabilities failed at this point.
4) Uninstall of MS CDRW patch and REINSTALL of MS CDRW patch seemed to fix everything. Why would this procedure work????
 
Now the XP burning function works proplerly. CloneCD works fine. MyDVD works fine for burning CDs. WMP burning works fine. I am not going to try Nero or any other burning software at this point.
 
Maybe it is an issue with my mobo?? SCSI/IDE configuration???
 
Anyway, I got it working but I'm a little gunshy about tinkering with the configuration or installing more burning software until this issue is fully understood and resolved...

Hay dood where did you get this patch??

The patch is a Windows XP update. Run "windows update".

I did that first before I posted. So I looked to see whats been updated and all I have there is
Windows XP Compatibility
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) x4
 
I dont think its the compatibility is it? Anyway let know if you find out or anything...