I open Serpentine 1st time and it says no CD recorder found,limits options,etc. I was told my Computer COULD write CD's only no DVD. Whats up ???

is it possible the guy jipped me at the computer store, and I really don't have recording abilities ? I I couldnt get it to work when I tried to do it from XP when I had it installed,but I dismissed it as not knowing how. What do I do ? I ran the line "scanbus" and it came back on the 1st port CD ROM CRD 848413 '1.04' whatever that means. I found a post on this forum saying I may have to do special something. I dont want to just start dumping stuff in my terminal I don't know what Im doing.