CDsDontBurn

Basically whenever i attempt to open up my optical drives with their eject button on their face plate, they will not open up. If i go into My Computer and right click the optical drive and select the "eject" command (right click on optical drive, select "eject"), the drives still won't open. The only way i can open them up is by using the paperclip trick. Whenever i have media in the drives, only then am i able to either press the eject button or use the "eject" command. The drives are as follows:

DVD/CD-RW combo: LITE-ON COMBO SOHC-5235K

DVD-RW: LITE-ON DVDRW SHW-160P6S

Both drives are IDE, and they have been appropriately set to the master/slave jumper configuration. any ideas to this? perhaps a firmware update will resolve this if a firmware update is available?

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Tipstaff

It's possible that one or both drives are messed up causing the entire IDE chain to fail. I would suggest disconnecting one at a time, and trying them out in Windows individually. Also, bad cable can cause the drives to react badly on the IDE chain, become unresponsive, as can using 40 wire cable on drives that are meant to be used with 80 wire cable, and vice versa. So can a piece of software that installs some sort of device driver that it uses to control the drives for whatever reason. Things like burning software, or copy protection.

Why, however, it only works when you have a disc in the drive.. that I can't understand.

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CDsDontBurn

i have some spare IDE cables lying about i can use. i'll first try them individually though. another thing i could try that just occured to me...to rule out a bad IDE cable...would be to try each of the two drives w/o the IDE ribbon cable attached. that would rule out the IDE ribbon cable, wouldn't it?

but getting to the jumper and IDE channel on the MoBo and optical drives is going to be PITA due to my claustrophobic and OCD style of wiring in my machine.

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BlueMak

Check the power cables too.
Also you can try to use a software solution to open them to perhaps see if it helps in some way.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
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craig5320

Are they actively in use? Could have an agressive indexer like Nero Scout using the media and won't let you eject it. Not sure if it'd have that sort of control. Just a thought.

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CDsDontBurn

it *could* be this. why? because due to my claustrophobic OCD style wiring, when doing the wiring, i accidentally cut two of the wires that were going to the top optical drive . i ended up splicing the two wires back together, and everything has been workin just fine ever since up until recently when this started to happen. and also, it was only for just one of the two optical drives, not both of them....but it *could* still be that.

that's the thing, there is no media inserted into the drives when this happens. both drives eject just fine when media inserted into the drive.

but, i'll look into any services or apps that may have control over the drive.

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Mousey

That used to happen in my system, for some reason unplugging the molex cable then plugging it back in seemed to fix it for me.
Could be worth a shot?

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kn00tcn

do they just sit there or do they try to clank/make some noise but just shift a bit

i know someone who had their older comp do that, opens fine with media in it, may have something to do with weight on the tray itself

might as well keep a disc inside

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CDsDontBurn

yea, they make like clunking noise and a very short spin like it's trying to access something from a disk or something to that effect, but nothing happens and the lights just flash off and on for about 30 seconds to a minute and everything just stops afterwards with nothing happening.

i wouldn't want to leave media in the drives...they're not supposed to be like that. and normally, i'd just go to the store and buy me a new pair of drives, but my favorite place to shop at, PC Club, for things like this is now bust

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BlueMak

Dude, get over it :-p DVD rom drives are like cheaper than any other hardware, just get a new one if it is faulty.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Liqourice

I have a similar problem with my AOpen DVD burner. Though, I think it's more of a mechanical problem since it opens if I press eject and then try to push the tray a little upward.

Not gonna buy a new one though, waiting for the BlueRay burners to drop a bit more in price first.

Tyrsonswood

CDs,

did you try these drives individual yet, you said you were going to try that but didn't report back. You could also switch master/slave relationship. I doubt both drives would "fail" at the same time unless something weird happened with that IDE channel but one bad drive could cause both to hang, typically it would be the "master" in this case.

I would also look for any unknown background tasks that may be "accessing" optical drives when there's nothing in them. Like a burner program or something of that nature.

Do both drives show up in BIOS correctly when BIOS is set to "auto"?

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CDsDontBurn

no, i haven't tried it yet. i haven't had the time. i will likely try it tomorrow when i do have the time to test it out.

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GigaWatt

the drives are trying to open but they can't, some of the moving parts in the dives (in this case the open/close parts) are stuck or out of alignment ... that seems to be the problem... at least from my perspective and what you have described...

detach the drives from the rig, open them up (using a screw driver). open them one by one, because you might get confused when putting the parts back together again (may place one part form one of the drives into the other , it has happened to me a couple of times).

clean the drives using a ear picker (i don't know if this is the correct term for it, but i think you get the idea ) and denatured alcohol (a 75% solution should do the job... ). clean the sliders for the cd drawer and the cd drawer itself, clean any kind of moving part that is attached to the drawer (a rubber convayer belt, a gear-wheel...). then, get some motor oil and a syringe wit a needle on top, suck in some of the motor oil in the syringe and spray (just a little bit...), on all the moving parts of the drawer... close the drives up, and don't overtighten the bolts (the drives are not a crucial pat of a Boing 747, hahahahha ). put the dives back in the rig, screw them back to the case, and test them one by one (not both at the same time)... see how this works out and post again with the results .

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CDsDontBurn

don't think i'll have the time for all that anytime soon actually...

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