HOPE I’M POSTING THIS IN THE RIGHT PLACE:  I’M FAR FROM BEING A COMPUTER WHIZZ, SO IF ANYONE HAS A SOLUTION TO THE FOLLOWING PROBLEM, PLEASE EXPLAIN IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE, THANKS.
RECENTLY, AND FOR NO KNOWN REASON, MY TOSHIBA SATELLITE A45-S121 LAPTOP DECIDED TO GIVE ME A PROBLEM WITH MY DVD/CD ROM DRIVES, I HAVE WINDOWS XP HOME (SP2) INSTALLED. THE INTERNAL  DVD ROM WHICH IS LISTED ON MY DEVICE MANAGER FILE AS ( HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC 4241N ) AND THE EXTERNAL DVD BURNER WHICH IS ALSO LISTED ON MY DEVICE MANAGER FILE AS ( LITE-ON DVDRW LH 20A1P USB DEVICE) BOTH HAVE YELLOW EXCLAMINATION MARKS (!) NEXT TO THEM. THE EXTERNAL  DVD BURNER, USB DEVICE DID NOT COME WITH ANY SUPPORT DISK OR DOCUMENTS, I WAS TOLD IT JUST NEEDS TO BE PLUGGED IN. IT WAS WORKING PROPERLY UNTIL A FEW DAYS AGO. BOTH THE INTERNAL/EXTERNAL DRIVES STOPPED FUNCTIONING AT THE SAME TIME. I ATTEMPTED TO CLEAR UP THE PROBLEM BY: RIGHT CLICKING ON “MY COMPUTER,” THEN GO TO PROPERTIES, SELECT HARDWARE, THEN DEVICE MANAGER, I THEN DELETED BOTH DRIVES FROM THE SYSTEM, RESTARTED THE COMPUTER, AND WHEN I CHECKED, BOTH DRIVES WERE BACK, STILL DISPLAYING THE YELLOW EXCLAMINATION MARK (!). NONE OF MY PROGRAMS WILL RECOGNISE THE DRIVES, AND I’M DEAD IN THE WATER. ANYONE OUT THERE THINK THEY MIGHT OFFER A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM? THANKS.