CD/DVD tray not opening

[Gerald Vogt]

I have the following problem on a Dell computer with windows xp prof.
sp2 and I try to pinpoint what causes it:

Symptoms:

* When I press the eject button on the CD/DVD drive the light on the
drive will just flash a couple of times but it will not open.
* The same happens if I use the "Eject this disk" task from My Computer.

* It does not matter whether there is a disk in the drive or not.

* This does not happen immediately after I start the computer but only
after some time of inactivity (showing screen saver).

* There is no noise which would suggest it is a physical problem with
the tray, just the blinking
* I can open the tray without problems after a reboot, immediately once
the system is back to BIOS.
* I can open the tray without problems after I hotswap the drive,
removing it with the "Safely remove hardware" tray icon and then putting
it back in.

This leads me to think that it may be a windows problem. I have checked
with sysinternals handle for handles on "e:" but did not find anything
as no disk is in the drive. Is there another way to find out whether a
program running causes this? I have tried to stop as many as possible
services on the computer but it did not make a difference.

Or is this a driver issue?

Thx, Gerald

 

[Jim Macklin]

Perhaps your anti-virus is in a loop scanning the drive? Or
some other software similarly taking control of the drive.


|I have the following problem on a Dell computer with
windows xp prof.
| sp2 and I try to pinpoint what causes it:
|
| Symptoms:
|
| * When I press the eject button on the CD/DVD drive the
light on the
| drive will just flash a couple of times but it will not
open.
| * The same happens if I use the "Eject this disk" task
from My Computer.
|
| * It does not matter whether there is a disk in the drive
or not.
|
| * This does not happen immediately after I start the
computer but only
| after some time of inactivity (showing screen saver).
|
| * There is no noise which would suggest it is a physical
problem with
| the tray, just the blinking
| * I can open the tray without problems after a reboot,
immediately once
| the system is back to BIOS.
| * I can open the tray without problems after I hotswap the
drive,
| removing it with the "Safely remove hardware" tray icon
and then putting
| it back in.
|
| This leads me to think that it may be a windows problem. I
have checked
| with sysinternals handle for handles on "e:" but did not
find anything
| as no disk is in the drive. Is there another way to find
out whether a
| program running causes this? I have tried to stop as many
as possible
| services on the computer but it did not make a difference.
|
| Or is this a driver issue?
|
| Thx, Gerald
|
|
|

 

[Gerald Vogt]

Perhaps your anti-virus is in a loop scanning the drive? Or
some other software similarly taking control of the drive.

I don't have an anti-virus installed. How do I find which software takes
control of the drive in particular when there is no disk in the drive?
Sysinternals handle or process explorer does not show anything which
suggests the drive is access anywhere (or at least I don't find
depending how the drive path is specified). As it is not easily and
quickly reproducible deinstalling some software and wait if it does
change anything is a very lengthy process.

Gerald

|I have the following problem on a Dell computer with
windows xp prof.
| sp2 and I try to pinpoint what causes it:
|
| Symptoms:
|
| * When I press the eject button on the CD/DVD drive the
light on the
| drive will just flash a couple of times but it will not
open.
| * The same happens if I use the "Eject this disk" task
from My Computer.
|
| * It does not matter whether there is a disk in the drive
or not.
|
| * This does not happen immediately after I start the
computer but only
| after some time of inactivity (showing screen saver).
|
| * There is no noise which would suggest it is a physical
problem with
| the tray, just the blinking
| * I can open the tray without problems after a reboot,
immediately once
| the system is back to BIOS.
| * I can open the tray without problems after I hotswap the
drive,
| removing it with the "Safely remove hardware" tray icon
and then putting
| it back in.
|
| This leads me to think that it may be a windows problem. I
have checked
| with sysinternals handle for handles on "e:" but did not
find anything
| as no disk is in the drive. Is there another way to find
out whether a
| program running causes this? I have tried to stop as many
as possible
| services on the computer but it did not make a difference.
|
| Or is this a driver issue?
|
| Thx, Gerald
|
|
|

--
Gerald
Die neue deutsche Money-FAQ http://money.gvogt.de/

Software-Fingerprint:
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[Peter Foldes]

Gerald

There is a small pinhole on the front of the CD drive. If you push in a paperclip a bit hard does the Tray open ??

 

[Gerald Vogt]

There is a small pinhole on the front of the CD drive. If you push in a paperclip a bit hard does the Tray open ??

Yes, of course. As I wrote before it is not a mechanical problem. It
opens fine again even after a reboot. I can open the tray with paper
clip but this does not help me finding the reason why it is locked in XP.

Gerald