Does XP Home just not like DVD drives?

Some while ago, my D drive disappeared from the list in My Computer, and would not work when I put a disk into it.

Recently, my Windows got totally corrupted, and my technician (i.e., son), not knowing this, put a windows CD in the drive and booted up - worked fine, and he reinstalled Windows from it - the drive now seems ok, and it looks like WIN XP (Home) had somehow just mislaid it - for a couple of years I have been coping without, assuming it was broken!