CDRW drive not recognized as "RW"

i recently had to reformat and start from scratch. everything was going smooth with win2000 and thing s looked good until i tried to burn a cd.

i am using nero 5.5, and it apparently doesnt recognize that my CDRW drive is capable of burning. nero instructs me to "Choose a CD Recorder" but the only option is something called virtual imaging. no CDRW available, and no way to search for it.

the drive works fine for reading cds. i went to MS updates, and it says i have the latest drivers for the CDRW.

i am stumped. help.

 

What kind of RW? Is there a flash upgrade available for it? Have you used it as a RW before successfully?

How long is a piece of string?
(Sorry for all the questions ).

 

Isn't there an option for Nero to auto-detect all the "burners" attached to the PC?