Computer can't recognize CDs

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Just like the title says - my computer suddenly can not recognize any CDs.
Everything was fine yesterday before I went to work but now when I insert CD it shows that E: is empty.
I'm not some it-and-tech-person so could someone please help me and please explain it as simply as possible?

[Ironside]

Possibly a driver failure, had one myself for a while ago. The dvd driver was less than a year old aswell.

Test with a boot-up cd that runs before any program has started, like vista or xp:s installation disks. If they can't be found then it's very likely to be a physical driver failure, that needs a replacement.

If it works, then there's some kind of software failure.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Similar thing happened to me too, except that my CD Drive recognised some disks, but not others. It recognised all CDs that had data on them, but it only picked up about half the blank CDs. Additionally, it would not write any disks any more. Basically, I was told that my disk drive simply wore out and I need to get it replaced, which is quite cheap.

Check your drivers, and check if the disk drive picks up CDs with data on them :shrug:. And really, for these more complex problems, I would go on computer help forums, not here... There is not too many people on these forums - I would only ask simple questions here, or ask here and then ask on a better forum if you do not get an answer.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Thanks for the replies.
A friend of mine had time to come by and he said it's broken.
So, I just need to get new one. ~:(