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 that happened during online 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 used it to try to re-install 
the OS, but because the drives aren't working properly I was unable to 
do it.  I knew that I have to look in the BIOS listing to be sure that a 
CD/DVD drive is selected as a primary boot.  I have a dual boot system 
in my PC.  Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu 9.04.  The CD/DVD drives work fine 
in the Windows XP but not the latter one.  Where did I go wrong?  Any 
tips on the solution to the problem will be greatly appreciated.   Thank 
you in advance.  Jim