Member Avatar for Doom989

Not shure if this is the correct place for this but here it goes.


I got my son a CD-RW, but recently its not been working, when ejected the tray hardly comes out, ive opend it up and what i think, is that when ejected the part with the laser on makes the tray stick, however i could be wrong, becuase when its down the tray has diffuculty moving at all.

Could someone please help me out?
if you need any further information just ask.

Thanks.

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Practical, step-by-step notes for a tray that binds on eject (builds on replies from , , and ).

Mechanical binding is usually a physical fault, not firmware: common culprits are a misaligned front bezel/tray, a bent or dirty guide rail, a broken plastic tab or gear tooth, or a seized/stripped drive motor/idler. The safest troubleshooting order is: observe, remove, inspect, clean, lubricate, test — in that sequence.

  1. Power down, unplug and ground yourself. Use the manual-eject hole to extend the tray a little and watch which part sticks.
  2. Remove the drive from the PC (note screw positions so reassembly is exact). With the drive out, inspect the tray rails, front bezel hooks, springs and the small plastic gears/rack for cracked tabs, missing teeth or foreign objects.
  3. Blow out dust with short bursts of compressed air and remove any debris. Do not flood with liquids. If the tray front is catching on the bezel, gently realign the bezel clips before deeper disassembly.
  4. If rails look dry, apply a tiny amount of light machine oil (sewing-machine oil) or a silicone grease made for plastics to the metal rails — very sparingly. Avoid WD‑40 or heavy greases that attract dust or swell plastic.
  5. If the motor hums but the tray won’t move, the motor/gear or a rubber idler/belt is likely failed. Plastic racks and small gears are fragile and often cheaper to replace the whole drive than to source parts.

If the unit is still under warranty, pursuing an exchange or RMA is the correct route (opening the drive can void warranty). For out-of-warranty units, replacement internal drives or inexpensive external USB burners are commonly the quickest, lowest-risk fix. Document screw locations and take photos during any repair — that helps if professional repair is later attempted.

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Member Avatar for jo2995

I dont think this is the right place, but could be. Anyways, some laptop optical drives only pop out a little so it doesnt get hurt <the drive>. Maybe somehow you got a laptop drive for your son? Anyways, if you go to the place you got it from, even if it isnt warrantied by the seller, they would probably try to act human and at least get you an exact exchange of the drive.

Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Dude...you opened a new drive? You just voided the warranty for it. If you were having problems with the drive, you could have just taken it back to where you bought it from and got a replacement. OPening a device voids its warranty....

Member Avatar for digitalocksmith

could be any one of a number of problems from faulty components through to incorrect use.

To help you self diagnose, here is a handy little link that includes a 'diagnostic flowchart' which may or may not point to the cause of the prob..

http://www.fonerbooks.com/ide_cd.htm

good luck!:D

Member Avatar for Doom989

He's just admitted to yanking the tray out than ramming it back in while it was trying to eject..So, its out of alignment methinks..i've been trying to re-align it but yeah, harder than it looks.

Its like one of those damn puzzle's.

By the way this is for a PC not a laptop, i should have specified that

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