Disk that Mac OS X can't read

I've had an iBook for about six months, and it has been working happily. All of a sudden it won't play any disks - including all the disks that came with the iBook, and any CDs and DVDs. The message "You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read. To continue with the disk inserted click ignore". I don't understand how this could have happened, unless perhaps the disk drive is broken or the operating system has corrupted. If it has, how do I reinstall as it won't read the disk! It must be a setting somewhere which I have accidently set off. Any ideas?