cd writer drive wont recognize any cds

My cd writer drive just recently stopped working for me... I was burning cds fine one day and then like 2 hours later I went to burn another one and it asked me to enter a blank cd even though I had a blank cd already there.. I tried this with a bunch of different blank cds and it wouldn't recognize any of them... My friend told me he had the same problem with his burner and he said it wouldn't recognize any cds... I tried normal audio cds and my drive wouldn't recognize these either.... My cd writer is a mitsumi cr-48x5te... It says HP cd writer plus on the drive but I don't think that is the type of burner... My program is the adaptec
easy cd creator 4.... I'm pretty sure the problem is with the drive though because it won't recognize any cds... If anyone can help me with this problem you can email me at doors88jim2@cs.com or reply to the post

thanks,
bryan

It may require cleaning. If there is no warranty left:

Open it and try to blow away all dirt (Especially from the lens) with a small compressor or compressed air that could be bought nearly everywhere.

Or it may simply be dead for good.

Try it in another computer as well....just to be sure.

thanks