External USB drive won't start in 7

I'm new to this forum, hardened XP-er but moving casually to 7 on my Dell Vostro 13".

I use the Vostro for travel and about 25%. I bought a Dell Optical disc drive as Vostro is too thin for interna. Driver worked for a good 18 months or so and I left it untouched for almost a year. When I tried it a week ago the drive didn't do anything; light came on then it just stopped. No hum or activity.

I tried it on my trusty old Dell XP and it worked fine. Warranty expired at Dell so they wouldn't even talk to me.

Considering buying another disc drive but wondering what the problem could be.

Hello jaymack and welcome to Seven Forums.

My usual disclaimer: I'm not an expert at anything. :)

Did you try plugging the external drive into a different Vostro USB port?

With the drive plugged in to the Vostro do you see any yellow or red flags in Device Manager?

Driver Install - Device Manager

With the external drive plugged in to the Vostro, does it show up in Disk Management with an assigned drive letter? (See above tutorial, second screenshot for Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management to access.)

Have you checked the Dell support site for updated Vostro drivers?

Drivers Help | Dell US

When I insert both usb cables (one for computer, one for extra power) nothing appears anywhere, no icons, no sounds, nothing. I'll try drivers.