CD R/W and BIOS problem

[#1]

The motherboard is an Intel SE7501CW2 with V1.07 BIOS. The CD Drive is a Matsushita UJDA360. I have tried resetting the default setttings in the BIOS, and on one of the three test beds I had to work on, I updated the BIOS to V1.08, but that made no difference.
The situation now is I only have access to one of these test beds. The BIOS on this one doesn't see the CD Drive (I'm sure it did in the early days of this problem), but if I boot up from a floppy, and then insert a CD into the CD Drive, I can see the contents of the CD (using the DIR command). However, if I use a bootable CD (a Windows XP CD) just to test the server, the server just goes straight past the CD drive to the point where it says "No Operating System Found".
Regards

[#2]

Yet more!
I have just discovered that if I go into BIOS, the bit that lists Primary and Secondary Masters and Slaves (where you normally see the hard drive and the CD Drive listed), it doesn't mention the slim CD Drive, but if I put a CD in the slim CD drive, reboot and go into BIOS, it says CD-ROM at the Primary Slave position. Remove the CD, and reboot, and the BIOS list goes back to nothing found. I don't have any hard drives connected at the moment - when they are connected, they will connect via a RAID Controller daughterboard (and to save you asking - yes they were connected via the daughterboard but I removed the daughterboard yesterday, so I know they aren't affecting the BIOS list or the non-ability to boot from a CD).
Regards

[#3]

If you 'Google' the part number for your CD drive, everywhere you look suggests that these drives need to be updated to at least version 1.04 firmware to resolve a multitude of issues ! 
Do you know what firmware your drives have ?

[#4]

Some, according to the label on them, have 1.02, some have 1.03. How can I find out what the firmware has is?
I have gone to the web as you suggested, and found that a lot of these web-sites look a bit iffy (to me at least).
I haven't used it for a few years, but there used to be a site for getting old drivers from. They didn't charge a fee, and I could get the driver as an uninstalled file that I could copy and move to the machine that I want the driver on. Today, all the sites seem to insist on doing a scan of my pc so they can update all my drivers if necessary. I cannot think of a better way to get 'nasties' on my pc than doing that. I don't want to do that on my pc at home, and I definitely don't want to get any nasties on my pc at work, being linked to loads of others through the company network.
Are there any reliable, safe sources of this software?

[#5]

Have a look here: http://members.driverguide.com/index.php. I've not used it for a while but it was OK when I did. 

[#6]

Mr T. I have just tried your site, and guess what - if you are not careful, they do a scan on your pc. They also charge you (not a lot) for the download, but if you decide not to go ahead, you have to kill the window, because it wont release you by using the "go back" arrow.
Thanks for the suggestion

[#7]

http://ftp.us.dell.com/rmsd/104.ZIP
Note: I have not used the above file but it's from a reputable source.
The driver download sites can be a right pain... you just need to know the right link to click on to get through to the actual file.

[#8]

or - http://support.us.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R65937&formatcn...

[#9]

[quote=penneck]How can I find out what the firmware has is?
The easiest way is to boot to a 'Live' Ubuntu USB stick, then go the "Disk Utility" and that will tell you 

[#10]

Guess what? All of a sudden the CD Drive started to work. Don't know why exactly, but I was just reconnecting the ribbon cable to the CD Drive adaptor board, and when I booted up (by chance with a bootable CD in the drive), the CD started running. Now I can't get it to fail. There must be something iffy in the adaptor board, but then it is long and thin so maybe it is a bit fragile. I'll have to start looking closely at that to se if there is any 'damage' of the sometimes good/sometimes bad kind such as a track with a hairline crack in it.
Thanks for all of your help