(1)I had the same problem. What i did was go to 'Add/Remove Programs', go to windows setup tab, find Multimedia, get details, and uncheck the CD Player, apply and close. Reopen all this again and check CD Player and apply. You need to have your Windows CD in of course. Now it works great.

(2)If you are talking audio, did you set a default player to play the audio cds? If it is a data cd, some data cds don't have auto start.