cd/dvd drivers missing

I replaced my Dell PC with a Mac this past spring. Recently I started cleaning up that PC so my 6 year old can use it and while removing programs I must have deleted the drivers for the cd player.
I originally thought that the cd player **** the bed and bought a new cd/dvd player but that isn't working either. In working wiht tech Support for the player they were able to determine that the drivers were missing. They had nothing to offer to me since they just use the Windows drivers. Can I copy the drivers from another XP machine? If so, is there a specific file I should be copying? I noticed that there are a copy of folders for drivers. Is the driver folder under systems the one that I should be copying.
In reading some articles it appears I have two other options - one is to bring it to someone to fix and the other is to download Xp from the MS website onto 7 diskettes and reinstall XP.
Would upgrading to Windows 7 solve this problem? I have a 7 year old machine and I have heard that Windows 7 may not be too compatible with a machine that old. I am maxed out on memory at 1GB. I only have a 40 GB harddrive too.
Thank you for your thoughts.