Losing CD-ROM drive

I have a new Acer Aspire 4810T that came with Vista. I have done the upgrade to Windows 7 and now when I insert a disk into the CD-ROM drive,or just close the drive the drive disappears from Device Manager as I watch! Also, I sometimes need to use a paperclip to open the drive.
When it was running Vista, I remember seeing a power option that allowed turning off the CD-ROM to improve performance. I no longer see that option in Windows 7.
The only way I can get the drive to work is to reboot, but that is a pain!
Any ideas please?

There are no yellow exclamation marks showing in Device Manager, so what tweaks are you suggesting? I did uninstall the CD drive and let Windows 7 find a driver on the internet but the problem is still there.
I will go the the manufacturers website and see if there is a better driver. This problem did not exist under Vista, only now since I installed Windows 7 has it started. I can't find anything about turning off CD drive to improve performance which did show under Vista under Power Options. Maybe it was an Acer option, if so its not there either!
Thanks.