ripping problems on windows 2000

I’ve got a matsushita (Panasonic) CR-585 (24X) cdrom drive on a 200mmx/64MB/win2000/AHA-2940/Quantum Fireball HD. When I try to install ripping programs, they simply cannot find the CDRom. Some require ASPI drivers to run, and after running the ASPICHK program from Adaptec, it informed me that the drives are not there. I don’t feel very confortable installing these drivers since I’m not sure what could happen. Any help will be greatly appreciated.