Conflict with internal DVD/CD player and new internal hard

I ordered a computer in 2014. I installed an internal hard drive and named it E: (C: is the main drive, D: is the recovery partition). An internal DVD/CD player was included, however, I did not notice that it wasn't working until after installing the hard drive as E:. I tried to fix the DVD/CD player and it seemed simple: a wire was hanging out and just had to snap it into place.

When I did that, the computer refused to load and was stuck on the HP startup screen for hours (literally). I disconnected the E: internal hard drive and rebooted. After a few minutes, the computer loaded into Windows and the DVD/CD player was now E: and worked.

How can I keep the internal hard drive as E: and still have a working DVD/CD player? How can I force Windows to use another letter for the DVD/CD player instead of it automatically assigning it E and coming into conflict with the hard drive?

I don't have windows 8, but I think the procedure is the same:
Go to "disk management" and find your CD/DVD drive and rename it "F"
then reattach your Hard drive and go back to disk management and name it "E".

then reboot and all should be fine.
Good luck
Sven

shut down - plug in the HDD - reboot
windows should auto assign drive letters