windows xp

~when i go to my computer there is a blank spot where the icon is supposed to be
~the light on the tower wont stop blinking
~when i push the BUTTON it wont open
~when i put the paper clip in the small hole to open it and put in a cd it dosent do anything, no responce
~before this i had to restart my computer for each individual use of a cd
~i've restarted, shut down and all that buisness

please tell me if you know what i should do?Check for loose connections to the drive inside the case. Make sure the CD is seen in the BIOS.

If that is all OK, then you need a new CDROM drive. Sometimes they die. How old is it?The first thing i would TRY would be to power down the machine. Unplug the PSU from the wall. Ground yourself on the case and re-seat the wiring to the CD unit. The small 4 prong connector is the power LEAD...the other one is the IDE cable.
After doing this plug in the machine and re-boot. Try the solutions you have been thru already...if you get no response the unit could very well be DOA...

patio.   8-)Once again GX1Man TYPES faster than me... I don't know about that.