cd or dvds not reading

Im running xp home. i have a sony vaio FJ-series (FJ270). its an older laptop ('06) It shows the drive in "my computer" screen and says its workin properly thru properties.When i insert any cd or dvd it doesnt read, almost like nothing was ever inserted. I havent really did anything to it yet cause i just recently got it myself from a friend so theres no telling what updates or out of date drivers is missing. I just kinda wanted some direction as where to start

The vast majority of the time such symptoms are down to dirty lenses, often a person can only see DVDs or Cd's, but not both, thats because they have a different lens for each, generally speaking there are only 2 things to try in these situations, and thats get a lens cleaner (most supermarkets do them these days), it is a disk with brushes on basically, it may take several cycles to clean it enough to be usable again, but often they are to dirty to clean so replacement is the remaining option, so try cleaning it and fingers crossed, good luck.