DVD drive doors will not open.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Walden
  • Start date Start date
W

Walden

Greetings to all,

Running XP Pro, Service Pack 3

I have two DVD drives manufactured by LITE-ON (LH-20A1P and LH-20A1H)
that have worked properly, then suddenly decided not to open their
drawers. (Okay ... no jokes about that!)

Both of them show up in Device Manager without asterisks and whose
Properties tell me they're "working properly."

Neither the button on the front, nor selecting "Eject" on their
context menus produce the same result ... a round of clicking and
brief moments of trying to open ... then stop.

I've disconnected the cables from both, then restarted XP, after which
they disappear from Device Manager ... then reconnected them ... let
Plug and Play find them as new hardware ... after which they
re-display in Device Manager as "working properly," but still have the
same problem.

I applied the most recent firmware from LITE-ON to one of them ... the
other one (the LightScribe model) has no firmware updates available.

Since both of them behave in the same way, I don't think it's a
mechanical problem. I have a feeing it's a corrupted driver problem,
but don't know how to fix it. I'm totally puzzled. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Walden
 
In
Walden said:
Greetings to all,

Running XP Pro, Service Pack 3

I have two DVD drives manufactured by LITE-ON (LH-20A1P and LH-20A1H)
that have worked properly, then suddenly decided not to open their
drawers. (Okay ... no jokes about that!)

Both of them show up in Device Manager without asterisks and whose
Properties tell me they're "working properly."

Neither the button on the front, nor selecting "Eject" on their
context menus produce the same result ... a round of clicking and
brief moments of trying to open ... then stop.

I've disconnected the cables from both, then restarted XP, after which
they disappear from Device Manager ... then reconnected them ... let
Plug and Play find them as new hardware ... after which they
re-display in Device Manager as "working properly," but still have the
same problem.

I applied the most recent firmware from LITE-ON to one of them ... the
other one (the LightScribe model) has no firmware updates available.

Since both of them behave in the same way, I don't think it's a
mechanical problem. I have a feeing it's a corrupted driver problem,
but don't know how to fix it. I'm totally puzzled. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Walden
Click to expand...

Do they also show up in Explorer? And if so, right click on the drive(s)
and select Eject still does nothing, right?

I don't know if I would rule out mechanical problems. As the drive opens
by a rubber belt. And in time, the belt starts to disintegrate. In a
pinch, you can use a rubber band as a temporary replacement if this is
it.

You know you can open the drive(s) manually by straightening out a
paperclip and inserting it into the small hole in the faceplate. Then
you can insert a disc and try to use it. If it works okay, I believe the
belts are gone. Or perhaps the eject motor.

There are almost never any drivers for CD/DVD drives anymore. As they
generally use the built in ones found in Windows.
 
All I can add is I have one once got a little sticky goo (likely coffee/pop
residue, e.g. dried sugar) around the edge of the drawer. This seemed to be
enough to prevent door opening without me doing a little helping prying on
the door with a needle. Once did that and cleaned the edge problem went
away.
 
Greetings to all,

Running XP Pro, Service Pack 3

I have two DVD drives manufactured by LITE-ON (LH-20A1P and LH-20A1H)
that have worked properly, then suddenly decided not to open their
drawers. (Okay ... no jokes about that!)

Both of them show up in Device Manager without asterisks and whose
Properties tell me they're "working properly."

Neither the button on the front, nor selecting "Eject" on their
context menus produce the same result ... a round of clicking and
brief moments of trying to open ... then stop.

I've disconnected the cables from both, then restarted XP, after which
they disappear from Device Manager ... then reconnected them ... let
Plug and Play find them as new hardware ... after which they
re-display in Device Manager as "working properly," but still have the
same problem.

I applied the most recent firmware from LITE-ON to one of them ... the
other one (the LightScribe model) has no firmware updates available.

Since both of them behave in the same way, I don't think it's a
mechanical problem. I have a feeing it's a corrupted driver problem,
but don't know how to fix it. I'm totally puzzled. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Walden
Click to expand...



Try one at a time

one of them could be defective and possibly interfering with the other
 
Greetings to all,

Running XP Pro, Service Pack 3

I have two DVD drives manufactured by LITE-ON (LH-20A1P and LH-20A1H)
that have worked properly, then suddenly decided not to open their
drawers. (Okay ... no jokes about that!)

Both of them show up in Device Manager without asterisks and whose
Properties tell me they're "working properly."

Neither the button on the front, nor selecting "Eject" on their
context menus produce the same result ... a round of clicking and
brief moments of trying to open ... then stop.

I've disconnected the cables from both, then restarted XP, after which
they disappear from Device Manager ... then reconnected them ... let
Plug and Play find them as new hardware ... after which they
re-display in Device Manager as "working properly," but still have the
same problem.

I applied the most recent firmware from LITE-ON to one of them ... the
other one (the LightScribe model) has no firmware updates available.

Since both of them behave in the same way, I don't think it's a
mechanical problem. I have a feeing it's a corrupted driver problem,
but don't know how to fix it. I'm totally puzzled. Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Walden
Click to expand...
Are you sure there is not a warped disc in either of these drives?
Sometimes a CD disc that has been warped or bent out of shape a bit
will jamb the drive door and keep it from opening.
 
In

Do they also show up in Explorer? And if so, right click on the drive(s)
and select Eject still does nothing, right?

I don't know if I would rule out mechanical problems. As the drive opens
by a rubber belt. And in time, the belt starts to disintegrate. In a
pinch, you can use a rubber band as a temporary replacement if this is
it.

You know you can open the drive(s) manually by straightening out a
paperclip and inserting it into the small hole in the faceplate. Then
you can insert a disc and try to use it. If it works okay, I believe the
belts are gone. Or perhaps the eject motor.

There are almost never any drivers for CD/DVD drives anymore. As they
generally use the built in ones found in Windows.
Click to expand...


Thank you for your suggestions, Bill. My friend had to take his
coputr back home for a few days to do some word processing, so I won't
be able to check them out for a few days.

I'll have it back before the weekend, and will tell you how I made
out.
 
All I can add is I have one once got a little sticky goo (likely coffee/pop
residue, e.g. dried sugar) around the edge of the drawer. This seemed to be
enough to prevent door opening without me doing a little helping prying on
the door with a needle. Once did that and cleaned the edge problem went
away.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm able to open the drawer with a paper
clip when the computer is shut down ... and don't see anything gooey
in the mechanism.
 
Walden said:
Thanks for your suggestion. I'm able to open the drawer with a paper
clip when the computer is shut down ... and don't see anything gooey
in the mechanism.
Click to expand...

My computer uses software to open the drives. I accidentally deleted
the file that did that and they stopped opening until I reinstalled
the file. I don't recall them making an noises though. They just did
nothing.

I later downloaded a much more powerful tool to open the doors as well
as other things called nircmd found here:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html
 
Walden

Take a pin and insert it into the small tiny hole on the front of the player just
under the door and push hard,then the door will open. Maybe you had a disk in there
that got stuck or something else was preventing it to open. I usually use a needle
or a safety pin.

Anyway once open then close it and then see if it will work normally.

--
Peter
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