Intermediate User having major problem

[Lildevil]

I have a 5 year old Gateway , 1 gmhz, 512m Ram, Windows XP upgraded from ME.
All of a sudden when I click on Start/My Computer the icons that used to be
there showing my Plextor DVD Drive/Burner and my DVD/CD drive have
disappeared.

I have run Spybot/Lavasoft/Norton/Microsoft Beta/spyhunter and feel
resonably comfortable the machine is clean.
I have restarted over and over. I have Shut Down and turned off power from
the wall to no avail

And to add to this for some strange reason my "hide inactive icons' feature
will not function even tho the appropriate box is checked.

Anyone have any suggestions? I really would like to have the icons for my
drives show up in My computer.

 

[Lildevil]

Sorry for the late update but i just used my system restore to a week ago
when I am sure everything was working fine but to no avail.