Why won't my DVD-RW drive open?

Question

The tray won't eject, but it has opened a little bit, but won't close or go any further on its own unless I push it. I haven't used it in a while, and have done nothing to cause it to not work...any ideas?

Answer 1

maybe something is jammed

Answer 2

Most of the time, a simple system restart will fix that. Assuming you've already done that though, if you look on the front of the drive, you should see a tiny pinhole. Get a paper clip, and stick the end into that hole and push. It should force the drive open. Then take the CD out, restart the system, and try it again. By the way, if you have a factory PC such as an HP or eMachines with one of those false fronts, you may have to look behind the bay on the front to the actual drive to find that pinhole.

Aside from that, open your case (with the power unplugged) and check your power and IDE connections and make sure everything is plugged in tight. For good measure, unplug and replug the cords to it.

Answer 3

You could have something jammed in it, or a program is using the drive and has stop you from opening it. Try rebooting your computer and while it is rebooting try opening the drive, if that works it is probably an application locking it. If that doesn't work, if you look close enough you will see a little hole in the front, you can push a paper clip into the hole and it will bypass the mechanical mechanism and you can see if there is anything jammed in it.

Lastly it could be your drive is dead and you need to get yourself a new one.

Answer 4

Could be the drive has gone bad. It happens. Have you tried a paperclip. Straighten out a paperclip and push it through the little hole the front of the drive, It'll be near under the tray somewhere just big enough to push the paperclip through. Your should pop open. If it continues, the mechanism is probably going bad and you'll need to replace it. Hope this helps.

The Syko Ward