How do I program my emachines to recognize the dvd / rom drive?

If it is USB CD_Drive you can plug it in a USB port of the computer. You may have to install drivers, but usually Windows Update can download them from the Internet.

more then likely the DVD laser part of the drive has burned out, i have nearly the same model and had to replace mine a couple years ago!! This is a classic situation, the CDROM laser is still functional, but DVD is inop!!! New DVD-RW Drives about $20 on www.NewEgg.com and even cheaper on www.eBay.com for a decent DVD-ROM model!!! Easy fix too, just make sure you get the IDE style, or make even faster with SATA, if you have a SATA available on your system!!

For about $40, buy a new CD/DVD reader/writer, to replace the "dead' CD-ROM drive.

Try pushing the drive in the notebook and if the
drive exists outside the notebook, try pushing all the leads in the drive.
The first on worked with mine.

1. Click Start
   , and then click All Programs.
2. Click Accessories, and then click Run.
3. Type regedit, and then click OK.
4. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Allow.
5. In the navigation pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
6. In the right pane, click UpperFilters.
   
   Note You may also see an UpperFilters.bak registry entry. You do not have to remove that entry. Click UpperFilters only. If you do not see the UpperFilters registry entry, you still might have to remove the LowerFilters registry entry. To do this, go to step 8.
7. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
8. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
9. In the right pane, click LowerFilters.
   
   Note If you do not see the LowerFilters registry entry, unfortunately this content cannot help you any further. .
10. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
11. When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
12. Exit Registry Editor.
13. Restart the computer.

is everything wired up properly?
when you enter bios, does it recognize the dvd-writer?
which system do you use?
did you install the right driver fitting your operation system?
does windows recognize the drive?

please find out and come again!

You need to install the DVD decoder that came with the drive such as PowerDVD or WinDVD. If you dont have the disks or setup files for those, you can download a free Windows DVD player program such as VLC Media Player that will work. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

i understand that your pc has a single dvd-drive that has the problem that it dos read dvds but not cds...
please give model because this is a rare error.
to check it, get the following disks and the freeware program 'burnatonce' (it is a burning software that accesses the drives on a lower than windows basis )
to check from the hardware side what the problem is:

install burnatonce
run it
open tools/device info
and check if the following disc are really recognized or not

a standard music cd(audio cd)
a computer cd(original ! windows install cd or other install cd)
a self burnt cd containing mp3's (CD-R type, 700MB or800MB)
any other computer cd for pc

an original film dvd
a selfburnt film dvd (DVD-R)
an original computer-data dvd (any PC-Game will do)

if only dvd's work, strange!

get a new drive then.

Dissamble the dvd rom from pc. Open it and clean the laser with a soft cloth or try a dvd lens cleaner disk. You can buy it from any hardware shop. Connect the cables correctly. Start with a fresh dvd disk. If your pc still can't detect dvd disc, replace dvd rom with a new one.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate and click the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDRom
3. To enable automatically running CD-ROMs, change the Autorun value to 1.To disable automatically running CD-ROMs, change the Autorun value to 0 (zero).
4. Restart your computer