Acer Aspire 1680 DVD not being picked up

[Mad old tory]

This might be better off in Optical but doesn't actually seem to be a problem with the drive itself.

Basically, from time to time the DVD burner in my laptop stops being recognized then after a few weeks come back again. This would seem to indicate a dodgy connection but it doesn't seem random enough as it goes through periods of not being picked up and then is fine for a few weeks. Anybody got any possible reasons why it's doing this and possible fixes? It doesn't get moved about too much tbh, it's mostly just sat on my desk

 

[beermonster]

some times when you pull the drive tray out its possible that your pulling the whole drive unit too, over time this can result in an iffy connection, flip the unit over and have a look on the base, see if you can see a screw for the CD drive, its usually at the end of where the drive would be or about an inch in from the bezel to one side, it may also be under a ram or wifi cover, anyways if you find it take it out , pull the drive out and push it back in, it should feel like its clicked into place, put the screw back in and tighten fully, this normally cures loose drive problems