CD not ready message

[TR]

Every time I try to access my CD I recv the same error message "CD not ready or accessable" or something along those lines. Checked the cables and the drive and everything is connected and seated properly. Watched when the computer boots up and on the screen at boot up it shows that the cd was detected. A samsung CD, running Win '98. Went into control panel and devices and removed the CD and then rebooted and the CD was reinstalled. Checked the drivers and they are installed. Also checked the Autoexec and Config files and they each have a line for the CD. I have tried everything that I can think of and if anyone has any suggestions on how I can get the CD to work again and get rid of the error message I would appreciate any information.
tks

[avx]

Might be that the CD is damaged. Might be that the lens is dirty. How old is the drive? Do you smoke? If you do you can pretty much bet its the smoke that has screwed your lens up. They sell lens cleaning kits at local pc stores, but sometimes it will leave an almost unremovable film..