iMac Disk drive - no whirring, no anything! Doesn't even seem to be there.

[siasiasia]

For 2 months now I've had this problem where there has been no whirring noise when I try to insert CDs and I've been too busy to tackle this issue until now.
Basically, when I try and insert a CD there is no whirring sound, no anything! It just stays there. AFAIK there is no disk in the disk drive, and whenever I press the top right hand button of my keyboard, the eject picture comes up.. but still no action/sound.
My friend asked me to show the stats (on properties I think? I'm not really good at technical stuff) and it showed that the iMac didn't think the CD drive wasn't there.
What do I do? I'm calling Apple Support on Monday but I'd really be appreciative of any help now.
Thanks.

 

[dukebound85]

sounds like a bad drive

is it under applecare? if so get it fixed

if not, you can buy an external drive if you really need it (or replace it yourself but would have to take apart computer)

 

[siasiasia]

sounds like a bad drive

is it under applecare? if so get it fixed

if not, you can buy an external drive if you really need it (or replace it yourself but would have to take apart computer)

I'm not sure if it's under applecare and yeah, I heard about replacing my thing but it's too finicky and I'm worried I'll do something wrong!
It was working fine until like November the 4th, and I turned it on and nothing happened when I tried to insert a disk!