DVD drive not opening

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fireball71

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Hi everyone.

Ive got this problem with my Sony DW-Q120A DVD R/RW drive. simply put, it doesnt open. every time i press eject, the light flashes for a few seconds and then nothing happens.
i know there is a cd inside, but the drive doesnt read it. (it was working fine up until late last night)

i can see the drive in device manager and i can see it in the boot-up menu. but the tray wont open.

This isnt the first time its happened. last time it happened, my cousin happened to be visiting and she knew how to pry open the the drive using a safety pin. But, now im on my own.

I run XP sp2 and i had Alcohol 120 installed. but the dvd worked fine earlier with alcohol installed and now even after i uninstalled alcohol, the dvd drive wont open.

i did a little search here, but i couldnt find a related topic. hopefully the problem isnt too serious and one of you can help me out. :)
 
You should find a tiny hole in the front of it, you just push the pin into it when the pc is off and that should allow it to open.

It looks like you could do with replacing it really, they are very cheap and easy to fit.
 
looks like this:
dvd_eject.jpg


sometimes also located right under the tray..

Best to do with an unbent paper clip, poke it into the hole until you feel some pressure (like the edge of a gear or a button) and push gently. It only needs a small force and the pin shouldn't need to be pushed more than a centimeter in most cases..
 
i didnt have to use the pin after all. just on a hunch, i put the pc tower on its side and tried opening the dvd tray, guess what? it opened.

the tower is now straight and its working fine. *fingers crossed*

but if this keeps happening, is it better to repair the drive or replace it? obviously (well, to me), its not the hi-tech part of the drive thats at fault.
 
Not worth repairing, even if its a 16x DVD Burner you can pick up a new one for less than $30.
 
agree.. not worth repairing when you can get decent ones cheap.

I've had this problem a couple times, usually when i didn't secure or place the CD on the tray properly (one side mounted on one of the edges) and accidentally knocked on the tray before i could rectify it, making it close itself.. scary stuff when the eject button doesn't work.. Lesson learnt.
 
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