I have a Dell 2400(I know, you feel sorry for me already). If I put a CD or DVD in either of the drives, the computer does an automatic restart. Once the computer restarts with the CD in the drive, then you can access it and do whatever you need to do.
I have reinstalled the operating system (Windows XP SP2). I have even tried to update to SP3. I have gone to the Dell site, flashed the BIOS, reinstalled the chipset drivers, and reinstalled the drives for the CD and DVD drives.
I even modified the registry so that the drives would not autorun.
HELP!!!