Disc Drive and Cpu Clocking help

I've reformatted my pc, but in order to install drivers/connect it to home network for internet I need to install a few drivers off of discs- my disc drive is acting very strangely in that in 'My Computer' it is not appearing where it should, and CDs arent autorunning. The drive opens and closes, and when i go into the drive properties section in 'Computer Management', it claims that the device is working fine >.<
If it helps, it's a Maxor Dvd drive, and It's been working fine for the last year. These symptoms first started just a few minutes before i reformatted, and it had no problems reading my xp disc as a bootup.

Another problem for me is that my Cpu doesn't automatically clock to the correct speed, so while it's an Athlon +2500, it's currently set to 300Mhz. Last time i had to manually set it, mike helped me, but i'm a little unsure as to what exact settings I should have for it for a decent speed (that doesnt blow it out :crazy:).

Motherboard is an Abit NF7s
CPU is an Athlon Barton +2500

:EDIT: Ok, it's getting REALLY weird now- the drive occasionally appears when i reboot without any reason, so i took advantage and installed some drivers from disc. Now the pc is even slower and boot past the screen with 'Windows XP' titled at the top and a loading bar at the bottom- it just freezes here :/
Can anyone PLEASE help??

The Mobile Barton should run fine at at least 166x11.

You should also check that all the cables are connected up properly. You could also try sticking the drive on the other IDE channel.

Edit: You could also try using a bootable CD such as this: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/ and see whether the CD drive works fine in there.

I know this thread is bloody old, but i've just turned the PC on for the first time in 6 weeks and the problem is back..

This time I was reformatting the HD and it made a load of errors installing windows files, and now it won't recognise the boot cd at all on startup :/

Time for a new DVD drive?

Id try a new cable first, but maybe yeah

Hmm, i don't have a spare cable.. I'll get a new drive in town today, and if the problem is still there then I'll return it.