HP DVD-burner will not open (physically)

[El Presidente]

My HP DVD burner will not open when the eject button is pressed or from the "My Computer" dialog. The drive shows up in My Computer and in the BIOS. Another interesting note, when the computer is turned on, the light on the drive comes on and stays on. From this point, the computer will sit at the boot screen until the eject button is pressed. When the eject button is pressed, the light turns off (and remains off the rest of the time the computer is on) and the computer boots up normally. This is pretty annoying considering the drive is only 3 months old. I'm not sure I can use the warranty as I don't have the reciept or box for the drive. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[sllewe]

Bad news: Quite possible that your drive has went up. Unless you have messed around with the innards of your PC lately, i would say that the thing is dead, or at least wounded enough so that it will not work right

Good news: DVD drives are very cheap, and pretty easy to install, so if you have to replace it, you wont have to starve for a week.

I have to say, its a very weird thing (the light and all) I know a floppy drives light will stay lit if th cable is inserted upside down, but seeing as ATA cables are keyed...im not sure how that could happen.

Sean

 

[mailpup]

Of course, if your drive supports Lightscribe, it's not quite so inexpensive. I'd say make sure the data cable connection is tight. If it is, then the drive is probably toast.

 

[El Presidente]

That's what I was fearing, but I wanted to see if possibly someone had a similar problem and figured it out. Yes, my drive is LightScribe which is why I'm pretty pissed. Oh well, that'll teach me to buy exspensive drives....I'll just starve myself for a couple of days and get a cheap one . Thanks for the help.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you tried the paperclip-trick?
There must be a tiny hole in the front of the player. Insert a paperclip, and keep pushing gently till the tray opens. Might just be stuck, or the CD/DVD is in there askew...

 

[El Presidente]

Yeah, it had the Myst IV DVD in it for about a week, then when I went to play the game, it said there was no DVD in the drive. That's when I discovered the drive wasn't working. I would have noticed it earlier but the drive shows up in My Computer. Thanks for the advice.

 

[sllewe]

i didnt realize that it said DVD burner lol...i thought it was just a regular DVD drive. Do i see a visit to the soup kitchen coming up.