When using my laptop (Dell Inspiron 1100), the symbol on the taskbar that displays the battery life is showing that the...

While it is possible that the CD you are attempting to use is scratched or otherwise damaged, your laptop could also be the issue. Ensure that there is no dirt or other junk stuck in the CD drive that could possibly be causing it to malfunction. Additionally, try manually searching for the CD on your laptop my opening up your libraries, and navigating to the main drive. If you see the CD displayed here, then your laptop is recognizing the CD but is just not telling you. However, if it does not appear, and none of the other suggestions solved the issue, you may need to replace the CD drive itself.