Problem with disc drive

Hey guys, haven't posted here in ages but I have quite a big problem right now.

Recently, my disc drive has been messing up. Whenever I would put a CD or DVD inside, it would sound as if it was loading but then it would just eject it automatically. I gave up on finding out what was wrong with it since I didn't need it, but now I decided to look back into it.

The first thing I noticed was that it doesn't show up in Disk Utility anymore as it did and in System Profiler this shows up:
"No disc burning device was found. If the device is external, make sure it’s connected and turned on."

Any ideas what I should do? I was thinking of taking it to an Apple service, but I can't be without my Mac for the next month or so due to exams and I need to burn some things soon.

(I should add I am running the first gen Unibody MBP with 10.6.6)

 

Really no one have any idea? Guess I'll have to get an USB burner for now...