how can i get my cd dvd workng again advent 7081?

im not very good with computers so in plain text good thanks,
my dvd/rw cd/rw will not play anything no music no cd-roms no films the light will come on and it sounds like its spinning round,it fires up abd then makes a stop start sort of noise,i was just wondering if there was anything i could try maybe?,pc world basically told me i would be better off buying a new one and i cant.its a advent 7081 windows xp...please help!!!