new and practically iliterate

last night i was desperately seeking help and came across you guys. my cd drive quit working, i have a Dell running XP, (says dimension 2400 on the front). that's almost all i know about my PC, thus, the title of my post.
when i run troubleshooter for the cd drive, says it's working, but put any cd in...music, program, blank..and it does nothing...a momentary whirr and nothing.
so...i guess i am wanting to know what to try and see if it is salvageable, or if all is lost for the cd drive.
have patience with me all...this forum stuff is totally new to me, so i apologize if i'm doing anything incredibly stupid Armymomconfused

 

CD drives are pretty cheap. If you can find a computer literate type to install it they are also pretty easy to replace, although I would not recommend it for anyone who hasn't done it before.

I have bought used working CDRW (CD rewritables) for around $10, new for $30. Regular CDs are even cheaper. If you were local I would do it for free, it really is easy. Ask around where you live (and watch out for teenager know it alls).

 

Shoot, you can get a DVD burner for 30 bucks from newegg.

optical drives are disposable.