No matter whether I put in an MP3 CD, or a regular CD, my CD's skip, and you can hear the laser moving really fast to compensate. The CD's are clean, so I know it's not that. I do have this habit of turning on a CD, and then leaving the CD running, for days on end, maybe on pause and maybe actually playing. When I do that, am I damaging the motor? I really need to know what's wrong with it, or get a general idea, because I can't live without music. I'm on the computer most of the day, and I can listen to it then, but when I go to bed, I only have my stereo, and it's hard to go to sleep without music for me. PLEASE, someone give me at least a nudge in which direction to go as to this problem!
I've faced the same problem and when I took it to an electronic store for fixing, they said the laser has been damaged. So I guess that's the same reason why your stereo isn't working. You might wanna take it to a store and see what they say.
I used to have that problem with my stereo when I was using it heavily. Using a CD drive cleaner it would make things better, but not for very long. I suggest you tried it anyway.
It's a bad idea to leave a CD player running for more than the allotted length of a CD. Although it's rare, the laser could start scratching your CDs.