All of a sudden, CD-rom drives (2) do not show up in
device manager. Power is on, they light up and open and
close and I opened up the box and ensured that the data
cables were snug but as far as the computer is concerned,
both drives (two different mfgers) are dead. It seemed to
happen right after I installed new Ram.
..

I'd take that RAM back out and see if the drives
reappear. It's possible the RAM is bad or maybe not
exactly the right type. I know, I found out that not all
PC133 RAM will work in a system that's using PC100 RAM.
If you installed 512 Meg or more you may have hit the "RAM
Wall". Some systems have trouble with even 512 Meg.
Jack