DVD-ROM will not open; light constantly on

Sankari · 17 Jan 2009 at 20:48

SATA DVD-ROM in a brand new build; sits there with the light constantly on, constantly trying to open. Pressing the button on the front has no effect; it will try to open, but after a brief attempt it will stall.

I have tried re-seating and repositioning it, but this has no effect. Everything looks fine in BIOS and it's a brand new drive; it should be working perfectly.

Suggestions please? :confused:

Tomc@T · 17 Jan 2009 at 20:52

Sounds knackered..... Can you try it another machine? and do you get the same without the SATA cable connected? if so I would think it needs RMAing.

Sankari · 17 Jan 2009 at 20:55

Same thing without SATA connected, yes.

I'll be gobsmacked if it's dead, seeing as it was only delivered a week ago. Will try with the drive from my main rig tomorrow, and see if I have any joy.

ChrisLX200 · 17 Jan 2009 at 20:59

Sounds like a mechanical problem to me. Try gently levering it open while it's trying to open following a button press, it might be the tray catching on the casing.

DigitalReaper · 17 Jan 2009 at 21:26

You could try using the emergency eject hole. Turn the system off and stick something longish and stiff into it. You'll feel some resistance but a bit of pressure should cause the drive to eject enough to let you pull it out. I've heard a length of bare solid copper wire works well, the kind used for wiring sockets up. I use a syringe from an inkjet refil kit myself, works well.

I did have a similiar problem with an IDE drive once though, tried to eject but seemed jammed. Turned out the +12v pin on the power connector was missing, after repairing it the drive worked perfectly.

Sankari · 17 Jan 2009 at 21:41

OK, I did open it earlier tonight using a large needle (that was before the drive was installed) so I'll give that a try and see what happens.

Thanks.