I have a dvdrom and dvdram. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to connect them to the pc. Ever since the power died out and I had it changed, it recognizes them at first and then freezes once opening "my computer".

If I connect the IDE cable with the rom and ram I get the result above. If I connect the c drive with one of the drives above windows doesn't open. I've spent hours trying to figure out but couldn't. Strange, the first time I installed wasn't as difficult.

Does one have to be Master and other slave?

yes!
it used to be reccomended that make both slaves on separate IDE channels, IE don't have both devices ont he same IDE channel (cable). But I think modern hardware (say 1.5Ghz+ machines) shouldn't have that problem.
You do need to make sure the devices are set to master / slave using the correct jumper on the disk. You also have to connect them in the correct order, the master is nearest the PC, the slave at the end of the cable