My Macbook Air 11" External CD/DVD Drive Wont Start Up

When I plug in my External CD/DVD SuperDrive into my Macbook Air and Insert the sims 3 into the super drive. I hear the external CD/DVD Drive start up and then it sounds like its shutting off and then i hear it start up and then turn off again. Ive tried inserting different disks into my external CD/DVD drive but none of them show up on my desktop like they usually would. PLEASE HELP!

try a diff. disk.   likely dust on the laser diode lens of the Superdrive.
if same, and ejects after a few seconds, the lens is dirty

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