Can anyone help me get the CD drive in my computer to work?

it has worked on and off for about 6 months now. it just doesn’t show that anything is there even when a CD is in it. it didnt work for like a month and then the past couple days it worked fine. now, after i made playlists to make basically everybody i know a kickass CD as part of their christmas gifts, it stopped fuckin working again. it figures. i am mad. any suggestions? if it matters, my computer is an asus and 3 years old so the piece of shit is probably just going bad all around. it sounds like its running then all the noise stops. now its clicking.