Windows 7: CD Drive Not Recognized After Reboot????

I'm using a Dell laptop Studio XPS 1640. Ok, I was about to upgrade to Windows 7 and it listed a couple of programs that needed to be deleted, so I uninstalled them. The 2nd or 3rd time I was required to restart my computer, it froze at the "Shutting Down..." screen for about 20 minutes. I waited and waited and decided to power down. I turned it back on, and it didnt say Windows was not shut down properly, so i figured it was ok. However when I booted back up, I was going to eject and re-insert the upgrade CD. I hit eject, nothing happens. Hit eject again, nothing happens. I go to Computer to try and view the CD thats in my CD Drive....NOTHING SHOWS UP! MY CD drive is now UNRECOGNIZED by my computer! Now I cant complete the upgrade. Not to mention, the upgrade made me uninstall itunes and my virus protection, saying a new version will be installed automatically after the upgrade.

I am furious. Is this Dell's fault or can someone help me??

Matt, welcome to the forums
Have you tried to re-boot in safe mode (usually hitting F8 during the boot process)?
That might do the trick and you should then try a repair install
If it doesn't you might want to try using a USB drive to install / repair from. You will need another computer for this though.
Let us know