Okay. I used to be a big Linux fan. But this is the second USB CDROM drive I've nuked so far, the first time without knowing how I did it, and the second time... my mom's gonna kill me.

I don't think there's not much to say here, save that unlike Linux, Windows doesn't nuke my hardware. Great checkmate, Linux. Now without the USB CDROM, I can't even migrate to Windows 2000.

So what happens? Absolutely nothing when I plug it in now. dmesg remains dumb and mute. Even Windows doesn't recognize the drive anymore, although it opens up when you press the button, and the CD spins around for some time inside.

Is there a way to recover the USB CDROM? Does unplugging it while mounted somehow damage the firmware? How can I freaking flash a USB drive anyway?

I don't know if this will help you or not. I just did some googling and didn't find anything, anywhere, about Linux USB trashing drives (of any kind). I did find one thread that said "plug the device into another usb port, not the same one". The person who wrote that piece of advice was having a similar problem after improperly unplugging a usb device. Plugging it into another port got it working again (fedora, I think it was).

My cable is two headed on one side, so I plugged the other head in, and thankfully, it worked. Now my mom won't kill me and instead will thank me for more information on how not to nuke a drive. Technically it's not the drive. It's the USB cable, which is, I guess, replaceable.

I'm starting to think that it's a hardware issue. Specificaly, something quirky with my laptop's USB ports. Somebody on techreport.com suggested that there might be overvoltage causing an arc and frying the stuff instead the USB cable head... I really don't know. If any computer hardware would supply more than the standard amount of voltage, it sure can't be the laptops... they're supposed to be power friendly after all.

Anyway, I'll try with my second Linux computer (Gentoo) and see if that nukes the other head... or on second thought, just use another ordinary USB cable. A double headed one is precious.