Problem With DVD/CD-RW on A22e

[StephenSteck]

Hi there im new to this forum so hello everyone.
Anyways, I bought a DVD drive for my laptop and recieved a different product. When i contacted the people i bought it from they said "did you open the packeging" and so i told them i did. they then told me i could not return it. I figured that the DVD/CD-RW drive they sent me would work in my thinkpad so i just stuck it in... (before turning it on of course) it stayed at the IBM THINKPAD logo for a while then told me i did not have a hard drive to boot from. When i contacted IBM they told me it would cost $70 to help me with my problem over the phone. I was looking at the firmware updated for my thinkpad but they all require the DVD drive and the Floppy drive to be in the laptop at the same time. (And i could not find the right firmware for the DVD drive i got). I am wondering if there is anything i can do to get my DVD/CD-RW drive to work in my laptop. Here are the exact specs of all my stuff:

Laptop:
IBM Thinkpad A22e 2655 27u running XP
256MB RAM
800mhz celeron

DVD Drive:
Model number: 27L4359 or 27L4358

Thanks

edit:
Well i downloaded the firmware ISO for the A22e and burned it to a disc (using a different computer). When i attempted to boot from the CD it gave me the Hard drive not found error but still booted the CD. The CD said that i did not have a Hard drive but that the DVD drive firmware was up to date. As soon as i remove the DVD drive the Hard drive reapears. im not very knowledgeable about the insides of a comp and how it works but are the DVD drive and the Hard drive overiding eachother?

The exact error message i get is:
"Hard drive not installed
If operating system not found
re-install hard drive.
press any key to exit"

(i get this message before booting windows and it is in a red boxish thingy sorry if that is not very discriptive)

[StephenSteck]

Ok well i tried the DVD drive in a friends laptop and it did not work in his. He has the exact same drive (bought from the same place) that worked in mine. So i figure it must be a problem with mine. oh well