Does the drive eject/close without you doing it?
There is three microswitches in that drive, one for the laser, drive will rattle if the microswitch is bad
two for the slide completely extended/inserted, if they fail the drive will open/close by itself.
The microswitches can be cleaned, the NGCD frontloader Drive is similar (but a bit better) to the SegaCD/MegaCD frontloader drive, similar enough to use it as donor for parts (but thats not a great idea) and to have similar issues and solutions.
For the laser:
it uses the same laser pickup as the SegaCD/MegaCD KSS-240A
wiki.neogeodev.org
now using a MegaCD/SegaCD as donor is like using another NGCD frontloader as donor..
There is plenty of after market KSS-240A, and I have not tried them, success seems to be a gamble.
Original old stock KSS-240 are ridiculously expensive.
OTOH, Sony produced plenty of CD Players during that time using that laser pickup (and very similar drives).
Actually, they've put out tons of CD Players with lightly different model numbers but the same internals.
Have a look at your local craigs list, ebay listings list etc., se. if you can find a model that is known to have a KSS-240A
92LHPC-1MX,ATD-55,CD-90V1Q,CD-91PM2,CDK-90V1,CDKD-21KSG,CDM-1,CDM-10,CDM-12.1,CDM-12.3B,CDM-12.3BLC,CDM-12.4,CDM-14,CDM-14D2,CDM-2/29,CDM-24,CDM-4/11,CDM-4/18,CDM-4/19,CDM-4/20,CDM-4/21,CDM-4/25,CDM-4/31,CDM-4/36,CDM-4/52,CDM-4/55,CDM-9...,CDM-9/42,CDM-9/44,CDM-9/63,CDM-9/65,CDM-9-PRO,CHS-10,CMS-...
webspareparts.com
In case the model is not listed, search for a replacement laser for that model, check if it is a KSS-240A on Google etc.
I've found two of these Sony CD Players when looking for a replacement laser for a MegaCD for about 10 bucks each, first one already worked, CDP-297 and CDP-291.
There was tons of them listed, not kidding, there is an abundance of 90s Sony CD Players for cheap here in Germany.
Other brands used that laser pickup as well.
Make sure to buy one that either works or where the laser isn't obviously the problem, these tings often have problems with the slide, won't open (stiff belt/mechanics needs re-adjustment), good candidates IMO
All of them have at least two fitting micro switches as well
In any case, consider a SD Loader, its much faster than the drive, like much faster, the whole library fits on an 64GB SD-Card, installation isn't hard (need to lift a pin or two), and the drive stays as operational as before and could be used.