XP should not require any special drivers for a CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM).
Try "uninstalling" the CD-ROM hardware from the Windows device manager.
Then, ask XP to detect new hardware, also from the device manager. When it
senses the CD-ROM drive, it should automatically load drivers form a cache
of such things XP keeps on the hard drive.
However, the words "said he was fixing it" lead me to ask, was the physical
CD-ROM drive not working, before he strarted playing with the drivers? If
so, it is possible that the drive is bad. I had one die in only two years,
and that was without much usage. In case you suspect a bad CD-ROM drive,
they are now fairly cheap and all plug&play, at least for desktop PCs.
Laptops sometimes require vendor-specific hardware.
