CD Drive won't close?

[djgeneral]

I was trying to test a CD I found earlier, and it was pretty damaged..so not thinking correctly, I put it in the computer, and now the tray is completely out and will not go in when I push the button or push the tray itself. It will move an inch and then go back out. I tried restarting the computer and still nothing. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Jonathan_King]

That sounds like a failing CD drive.

If you can take the drive out, you can see if there might be something blocking the drive.

Maybe I'm a little confused. Where is the damaged CD right now?

 

[motc7]

I was trying to test a CD I found earlier, and it was pretty damaged..so not thinking correctly, I put it in the computer, and now the tray is completely out and will not go in when I push the button or push the tray itself. It will move an inch and then go back out. I tried restarting the computer and still nothing. Any ideas? Thanks

o.k. so if I understand right, you have a CD that is badly damaged in a tray, but the tray is open? i.e. you can access the disk?

i would perhaps try removing the CD and try closing again. Also, is this a laptop?

regardless, I would unplug and plug back in the CD ROM and see if that works.

 

[djgeneral]

No, the tray is open, and the disc is out, but now it won't close. The tray will move in and out a bit, but that it is it. It is a desktop tray.

 

[Jonathan_King]

First, power off the computer. That may decrease the risk of damaging the drive further.

It is a mechanical problem. Possibly a piece of the drive is loose inside, and has moved and is blocking the tray.

Perhaps a small object found its way into the drive, and maybe shaking the drive up-side-down will dislodge it.

If you feel up to it, take the cover off the drive, and carefully observe what you see. Maybe you can figure out what the problem is.

If nothing else works, use a little force. It may break the drive, but at that point, you would need to buy a new drive anyway.

Here's a good replacement drive: Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - CD / DVD Drives

It seems every time I look on Newegg the price for drives has gone down!

 

[pebbly]

when you say the disc was damged do you mean scratched ? is there anything blocking the drive from opening and closing ?

 

[djgeneral]

Yes, the disc was scratched. When I put it in, it starting spinning really fast, and making a lot of noise, so I quickly ejected it.

I don't hear anything loose inside of it right now as I shook it, and looked inside with a flash light.

 

[Jonathan_King]

I'd try opening it up and looking around.

I'd say it's unlikely there's anything you can fix, but if you want to try to save $20...

 

[mitchell65]

I would not bother trying to find out what is causing the drive to malfunction. The fact that it has suggests that it needs replacing or will do in the very near future, just when you need it most or you have put a precious DVD or CD into the drive and it clobbers that as well.
That's a very good deal as in jonathan_kings post but will djgeneral eed to check if he can fit a Sata drive to his PC?

 

[djgeneral]

The computer is pretty new though. I don't understand how a scratched CD could break the tray like this. It wasn't even that scratched. The CD worked in a CD player, so I wanted to make a new copy of the CD and throw this one away but instead it broke the drive?

 

[Jonathan_King]

I wouldn't think the CD broke the drive. The drive started spinning really fast, and broke in the process.

Who knows, maybe the scratched CD induced it to start spinning, but a healthy drive would not break like that.

Take heart. Optical drives are mechanical hardware, and thus subject to mechanical failure. Stuff happens, even new drives fail.

If it's still under warranty, I'd recommend trying to return it to the manufacturer.

 

[motc7]

I wouldn't think the CD broke the drive. The drive started spinning really fast, and broke in the process.

Who knows, maybe the scratched CD induced it to start spinning, but a healthy drive would not break like that.

Take heart. Optical drives are mechanical hardware, and thus subject to mechanical failure. Stuff happens, even new drives fail.

If it's still under warranty, I'd recommend trying to return it to the manufacturer.

I'm going to agree with Johnathan here on this and his earlier suggestion along with mine to pull it out and see if you can fix it. Otherwise, DVD drives are not expensive these days.

 

[djgeneral]

It is fixed! Somehow, there was CD stuck inside! I have NO idea how that happened lol but everything is working smoothly now! Thanks everyone.

 

[pebbly]

It is fixed! Somehow, there was CD stuck inside! I have NO idea how that happened lol but everything is working smoothly now! Thanks everyone.

glad to hear that thanks for letting us know