how could my burner be gone?

this actually happened a long time ago so im not even worried about it anymore, but im intrested to know how my cd burner drive could have been deleted. how could this happen because i have a stock windows xp and when we first got it it had a cd burner.

 

as long as the drive is not dead, this is likely a simple loose connection problem.

Power down your computer and unplug it from the wall, take the side panel off (you may want to do this outside, as there will be a LOT of dust--which you should clean out with compressed air if possible anyway).

Verify that the CD-burner is plugged in tightly by unplugging and replugging both the 4-pin molex power cord and the IDE ribbon cable into the drive, as well as the other end of the IDE ribbon in the motherboard IDE slot.

if those are correctly plugged in, the BIOS should recognize the drive, and it should appear in windows again. if you still see nothing, report back and we'll have you check the BIOS for recognition.