cd / dvd drive problems

[wojo629]

this is a question for the big brains out there, has me stumped:

both the cd&dvd drive bay door will not open, getting power, activity lights blink, makes the all the whirring and clicking noises but the trays don't slide out...tried the paper clip trick-no joy...opened up the dvd player, and i can physically make the tray slide out.
this happened to the computer at the same time, opened case no sign of a coke/coffee spill..
any ideas?

Dell 8250, WinXP SP2..can get more info if needed.

Thanks!

[Teknophobia]

Good one!

2 thoughts.....

1) I'd suspect the power cable, but seeing as they are seperately powered, it makes you wonder. Unless by some freak of nature the PSU is slightly damaged, so that not enough power is getting to either device. Try connecting one of the drives to a connector you either dont use or is connected to a device you know to be fully working.

You could also try popping either your DVD/CD drive into another PC (if available) to test its working properly. Or, try a CD-ROM drive from another PC into your existing machine. If either fails, then you have your culprit.

2) Driver failure? Try uninstalling/reinstalling your CD and DVD drives through Device Manager and see if that makes a difference.

Actually, discount that last theory! The CD/DVD drives should eject systematically regardless of what its connected to! Go back to theory 1!

TEk

[wojo629]

tek: i'm leaning towards PSU...when i opened the PC, the case was filthy, both fans, PSU & CPU were all snotted up..of course they had the PC sitting on floor in a corner and they have enough animals for a zoo...i don't like the idea of opening and installing either drive in my PC (alot of $$ and BST(blood/sweat/tears) went into my machine...but, maybe i will...or:
was thinking of opening either drive up again, putting in a disc, reassemble/reinstall and fire up PC and see if the drive will read the disc..what a PIA...favors for friends will kill ya!!!
any other thoughts?
time to run store and grab a CD/RW and install maybe...ugh!

[Shinma]

With the amount of dust inside that you described,
Remove and re-install jumpers, power connectors and ATA cable.
Hopefully it was just dust clogging up one of the connections and
Not drive(s) being damaged due to excessive heat buildup with the optical drives.

[wojo629]

shinma: did that, will test more when i get home, at work now.

[Philgo]

Boot from a bootdisk and see if they work in dos mode, that will tell you if it's a hardware or software fault.

If you haven't got one go here http://www.bootdisk.com/