My cd is not working on my Gateway. When I push the open button on the tower itself nothing happens. When I restart the computer I get an error that the cd device is not recognized and it does not come up in My Computer. Any guesses?

Is the CD burned/homemade, or commercially produced?

Open up your computer and test the power coming from the socket that the cd device is plugged into AT the motherboard. It could be something as simple as a bad ribbon to the motherboard.