HELP! what to do when cd drive crashes?!?

[liloutlaws]

My laptop's cd-drive won't register in Windows XP, says there is an error. So uninstalling and then reinstalling the cd drive doesn't do anything. So I want to try and reformat, but how can I do that when the cd-rom doesn't work? I tried using an external cd-drive plugged into the usb port and then dLing drivers from the internet..but that didn't work either. Seems like all cd-roms just won't register. How can I fix this problem? Thanks!