I feel your pain. Just had a similar issue with a Plextor-708A DvD/CD RW that wouldnt register inserted media. Tore it apart & checked everything out. Electronics looked okay, but something was wrong with the head servo/positioning (effectively it is kaput). The unit is sitting here waiting for the next electronics scrap collection event to be held at Fry's Electronics.
Fry's has bunches of unboxed LG burners for low price (ie, $20). They all sport black bezels. If you, by some chance, need IDE, then Newegg has a bunch for $15 pulled near new from Dell workstations.
Oooops, didnt see the last line (ie, a notebook).
You're gonna have to verify that it's the drive that's bad. Some drives are removable for extra battery (like my Fujitsu). If that's the case with your model try to swap components with someone. Otherwise you'll probably have to bite the bullet , take a chance & just order a replacement. (Probably cost you $60.)
Meanwhile, check the BIOS to see that the drive shows up okay. Set it as the boot drive & see if you can boot from it (eliminates the OS as culprit). If you can boot from it, the it's okay. Delete it & the SATA controller in the OS (device mgr), re-boot & hope everything installs correctly.