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CD Rom will not open anymore

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Toxic22, 2008/02/21.

  1. 2008/02/21
    Toxic22

    Toxic22 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hello,

    I have an issue with my cd drive, it simply refuses to open anymore. Theres nothing in the drive and its only about a year old. This issue began when I installed the latest Sims 2 expansion with SecuRom on it and I firmly believe its the cause. My drive worked perfectly fine before. I have contacted EA and they promise its not related to them. I have read that removing the game doesn't work as the SecuRom files are heavily integrated into Windows and I really don't want to remove a game I paid for.

    I have inserted a pin into the hole to get the drive open. When I push, it sounds like its resetting the gears or something inside of it. Once I have done this once, I can press the button and the drive opens fine. Selecting Eject in My Computer also doesn't work unless I use the pin first. Once open, I can put a cd in and it closes fine on its own. I have tested the drive, it even works fine. The odd thing is the drive will even open and close with a cd in it... but once I take the cd out and close and try to open, its locked up again. I have tried opening the drive quickly before windows boots but its locked up then as well so i'm entirely confused.

    Does anyone have any ideas?
     
  2. 2008/02/22
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Open/Close is controlled by an electronic switch. These switches can go bad and aren't worth repairing...

    You could try blowing the dust out of the drive with a can of compressed air.
     

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  4. 2008/02/23
    Toxic22

    Toxic22 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Steve, thanks for your reply. I'm not entirely sure if this issue is being caused by the open and close switch.

    I have found more weirdness out about this issue. It seems iTunes knows how to get it open... earlier I clicked 'Burn disc' and when iTunes couldn't find a disk, it tried ejecting the drive to get a disk from me. It did its usual noise like it was trying to open but couldn't, but iTunes didnt give up and it opened on its own.

    It's really weird... when I press it, it sounds like theres something inside it trying to push the drawer open but it bounces back then it clicks and trys again... then the drawer thinks I closed it because it trys to read.

    Another weird thing I found out earlier is, once I press the open button and its making its stuck noises, if I press it a second time during the process... it opens on its own. :confused:
     
  5. 2008/02/23
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    From your description I would say that your drive mechanism is failing mechanically. Best solution is to replace the drive - they are so very cheap these days.
     
  6. 2008/02/23
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    If you would like to do a few checks:

    One thing that can lock a drive is the program InCD (part of Nero) and maybe Direct CD (part of Easy CD). If so, look in the Notification Tray for an InCD Icon, right-click on it and select Eject.

    If you think it relates to the game, you can uninstall it, check, then reinstall it. Look for updates (patches) at EA. Check for information or patches at the SecuRom website.

    I see Daemon Tools has "emulators ", avoid Daemon Tools.

    Matt
     
  7. 2008/02/23
    Toxic22

    Toxic22 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Pete, could you give me some instructions step by step on replacing the drive? I've been wanting a DVD burner / CD Burner combo for ages... right now I only have a DVD player / CD Burner. Can you recommend a drive? Thanks for your help if you can!

    Matt, I don't have Nero or Easy CD or Daemon Tools installed. I always avoid those because I know the issues they cause with copy protection like SecuRom. I have MagicISO, Roxio, and InfraRecorder installed. Not sure if any of those could be causing issues. Actually I installed MagicISO after the problem started so i'm sure thats not it, and Roxio came with the PC. I'll check the SecuRom site for updates though.
     
  8. 2008/02/23
    mattman

    mattman Inactive Alumni

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    Direct CD (actually DirectCD) is part of Roxio.

    From the Roxio Communities:
    http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=885
    It may have locked when you inserted a CD-RW disk. You have been by-passing that lock. If it was a CD-RW disk that you found locked in the drive originally, I suggest putting it back in and then use DirectCD to unlock it.

    Uninstall DirectCD if you do not use it.

    Matt
     
    Last edited: 2008/02/23
  9. 2008/02/24
    Toxic22

    Toxic22 Inactive Thread Starter

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    Matt, I opened Roxio and clicked eject disc... naturally it refused, so I had to keep pressing the open tray button to get it to open for me. I put a CD-R in the drive... which is all I have / use, and then closed it. I told roxio to eject it, which it did. Took the CD out, closed the drive back, tried to open it... it worked fine.

    However, I waited about 5 mins and tried to open it again... locked up again. It will open / close fine at any time with a CD in it, and within like the first minute of being closed with no cd... but any longer than that, it refuses to open unless I press the eject button about 2-4 times.

    When I closed Roxio.. it said it encountered a Runtime error.
     
  10. 2008/02/24
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Illustrated installation instructions here ....

    http://www.anewshop.com/dvdrw/install.html

    I have always favoured Pioneer drives and have both a Pioneer DVD-RW and Sony DVD-RW installed.
     

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