CD Drive Won't Open

TubularLuggage

The CD-ROM drive on my rent's PC is having trouble opening. If you press the button a shitload of times, it'll sometimes open eventually (and the eject command from the drive's right click menu does the same thing). There doesn't seem to be any trick to it. They want me to fix it for them and I have no idea what the problem is. I'm telling them to just buy a new drive, since they can easily afford one, but they're insisting someone fix the one they have.
It's a Dell PC from 2001 (yeah, I couldn't convince them to let me build them a rig).
Is there anything that could be causing a problem like this?

LewieP

Sounds like problems with the motor to me, shouldn't be to expensive to get a new drive these days. Although it might be something else. Maybe try updating the drivers?

Azio

CD-ROMs wear out. Just pop in a new one, they cost like 20 dollars.

TubularLuggage

Azio wrote: »

CD-ROMs wear out. Just pop in a new one, they cost like 20 dollars.

Yeah, that's what I've been telling them.

Thanks for the help guys.
I'll check the drivers, and if that doesn't work, I'll probably just buy them a new drive myself and claim I fixed the old one to shut them up.

DiannaoChong

buying a new one and replacing when there not looking and saying you fixed it seems to be the best answer to me. Good luck finding one that looks exactly like that one though. Is it me or is this the sitcom situation where the kids pet dies while on vacation and the neighbor tries to find a cat/dog that looks just like it for when they return? I think the funny part here is that its probably harder to find a 6 year old matching drive then a calico cat.


*sees parents come home to find theres a calico stuffed in their 5 1/2" bay. son goes "Damn so close to fooling them!"

devoir

Say you scratched it horribly fixing it, and you had to perform emergency reconstructive plastic surgery. Throw in enough computer terminology like "megabytes" and "teraflops" and I'm sure they'll believe you.

That or you could just say "Hey it was like $20. Better than me wasting hours trying to fix it by asking people on internet forums, don't you think?"

capable heart

You could say that once you took it out and inspected it, you found that the broken part was a key part that is physically attached to something else, and it's something that's not sold separately from a new drive.

Hewn

You all likely know this, but...
Most, if not all, CD Drives have a small pinhole on the front. By taking something like a paper clip and pressing gently into said pinhole, you can pop open any stubborn drive.

Considering they want to fix the current drive and not replace it, just hand them a paper clip. Works just as well as hitting the button.

Daedalus

Hewn wrote: »

You all likely know this, but...
Most, if not all, CD Drives have a small pinhole on the front. By taking something like a paper clip and pressing gently into said pinhole, you can pop open any stubborn drive.

Considering they want to fix the current drive and not replace it, just hand them a paper clip. Works just as well as hitting the button.

That button is strictly for emergencies and usually breaks after three or four uses.

Hewn

The Warlock wrote: »

Hewn wrote: »

You all likely know this, but...
Most, if not all, CD Drives have a small pinhole on the front. By taking something like a paper clip and pressing gently into said pinhole, you can pop open any stubborn drive.

Considering they want to fix the current drive and not replace it, just hand them a paper clip. Works just as well as hitting the button.

That button is strictly for emergencies and usually breaks after three or four uses.

Seriously? I used it religiously on a drive I had. Hundreds of times, I couldn't even begin to wager a guess. No problems. I must be a lucky cat.

Daedalus

Hewn wrote: »

The Warlock wrote: »

Hewn wrote: »

You all likely know this, but...
Most, if not all, CD Drives have a small pinhole on the front. By taking something like a paper clip and pressing gently into said pinhole, you can pop open any stubborn drive.

Considering they want to fix the current drive and not replace it, just hand them a paper clip. Works just as well as hitting the button.

That button is strictly for emergencies and usually breaks after three or four uses.

Seriously? I used it religiously on a drive I had. Hundreds of times, I couldn't even begin to wager a guess. No problems. I must be a lucky cat.

On some drives it may work forever, but it's only "required" to work a few times, and most retail drives will have fine print to this effect in the manual.

DiannaoChong

strangely enough I have had drives without pinholes, as I have gone to get disks back (in an emergency no less) and only to find there was no pinhole. we had to cut into the drive. Good times and metal cuts for all

Cycophant

One other possibility to check is that the power cord from the PSU to the drive isn't loose or a bent pin or something. It might explain the randomness of when it works, and it's a quick fix.

Otherwise, I'm on board with everyone else. Just buy a new one, and either lie about breaking the old one, or just don't tell them.

ElectricBoogaloo

It must have been those dastardly games that broke the computer.