CD drive won't accept disks

My CD/DVD drive has stopped accepting any disks, and there's definitely no disk inside - it feels as if the mechanism that ejects them has jammed in the 'out' position.

When the machine starts up, there used to be a noise of the CD drive checking for disk inserted - now there is no start-up sound in the drive.

It's still under warranty, but because of logistics getting the machine to a repair place, I'm hoping for a home-brew solution, if anyone has come across this.