CD/DVD drives and online connection not working in 9.04

[Jim Kvarnberg]

My Ubuntu 8.10 was upgraded to 9.04 online.  It worked fine until after 
some updates I started having problems with the CD/DVD drives and online 
connection.  Now I am using my wife's VISTA computer to get online in 
order to send and receive emails.  My Ubuntu 9.04 won't work two CD/DVD 
drives and online connection that frustrated me.  The drives could read 
contents in discs, but won't do any writing and installation of some new 
software including an iso.  In the VISTA computer I downloaded Ubuntu 
9.04 AMD64 and tried to re-install the OS, but because the drives aren't 
working properly I was unable to do it.  Where did I go wrong?  Any tips 
on the solution to the problem will be greatly appreciated.   Thank you 
in advance.  Jim