Cressida!!!
Thank You - Thank You! All I did was uninstall my Roxio 7 media center (which in itself was buggy and a pain) and rebooted, my drive was back!
I later tried an install of SP3 from Microsoft window update, but that hung up my pc - had to safe mode boot and restore to previous day. But, then lost my drive again and Roxio wouldn’t uninstall properly (as system restore put it back, but it was buggy)…
So…
I first had to use Microsofts’ Windows Install Clean Up - physically delete the Roxio files from my PC - then delete to registy keys as outlined here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060/
Reboot again, success - again! Yea!
The last scenario wouldn’t have been needed had I not got over confidant with SP3 install.
Thank You very much!
While I’m at it - I’ve been trying to find a straight answer to 1 or 2 recommendations for top quality DVD/CD ROM drives - I’m leery Plextor’s new drive, but any ideas would really be appreciated!

Thanks Again!
D
D