My laptop does NOT detect my new DVD/CD-RW combo drive at all, neither does it detect any other optical drive, other than the original CD-ROM which has its tray removed. A BIOS update didn't cure it either.
I had the same problem with mine, the weird part was my drive was a toshiba, but anyways the store where I got mine gave me a warranty so I just took it back and told them to replace it, you should probably do the same.