Do as ROG suggests.
When you boot to the C prompt, do you first see the generic CD ROM driver Loading? The question is: Do you still have your Config.sys and autoexec.bat?
If you see the This driver is provided by............. Then your config.sys is loading the generic CD driver.
All you would need to do to get CD access would be to load mscdex
If you have your autoexec.bat you can edit it.
Windows Setup Rems out the mscdex line.
You can un rem that and then at the next prompt, type autoexec.bat to load the CD driver. Continue to do a resintall.
However, if you have the ability to use the floppy drive and you have access to another computer, which you do, the easiest thing to do would be to copy autoexec.bat to floppy. Take that to a good computer and open it up in notepad. Edit out the REM -By Windows Setup- before the mscdex line.
Rename the old autoexec.bat to autoexec.ba on the laptop. Copy the edited autoexec.bat to the hard drive.
Restart the computer and see if it loads the CD drive. If so, you can get to the CD and do a reinstall.