YES THERE IS!
I'm using a Dell Latitude D620 Laptop (with Windows XP Pro).
I burn a lot of CDs for various reasons.
One error from the CD Writing Wizard I frequently receive (and have not yet found a permanent solution) is the "There is no disc in the drive." / "Insert a writable disc to continue." error -- even when there IS, in fact, a disc in the drive.
Rebooting will SOMETIMES fix the problem, but is not necessary.
To fix this, I'll go to the drive properties of the CD RW drive (right click) and select the "Recording" tab.
Once there, I'll UNCHECK the "Enable CD recording on this drive" checkbox and click "Apply".
A message will appear and I'll click "Yes" to continue.
I'll then go back into the properties and re-check that same checkbox and click "OK".
Then right-click the drive and tell it to "Write these files to CD".
Works every time:
I've gotten very accustomed to doing this and it no longer surprises me when it happens.