[pamelaviolet]

More fun. Now I'm preparing to reload some of my software, and the CD drive won't OPEN. The green light flashes, there are some clunks inside, but it won't move. Since it has worked perfectly up until the time I did some hard drive cleaning, I'm suspecting I deleted some important file that operates the drive.

I had a suspicion about this when going through my binder of software for the computer, and noticing a disk that says "For Reinstalling Sonic RecordNow . . ." And I distinctly remember deleting the Sonic stuff because it looked like a lot of game junk my son loaded in a few years ago. Drat!

Any ideas on how to get the drive to operate?

Things just keep getting worse!

Pamelaviolet with exploding hard drive and sleeping CD drive

[Sherman Homan]

Are you trying to open the CD within some program? Because even if you deleted everything and reformatted your entire hard drive, the CD tray should open with the CD eject key or F12. What machine and operating system do you have? And what sort of "clunk" sound do you hear? Any possibility that there might be one of those mini CD's in there?

Pamelaviolet with exploding hard drive and sleeping CD drive

I would think the exploding hard drive would awaken the sleeping CD!

[ghporter]

First, you need a very high-tech tool: a paper clip. Unbend the paper clip until you have a straight length. Now locate the tiny paper clip-sized hole under the drawer/tray on the front of your CD drive. Push the paper clip straight in and you will unlock the drawer and cause it to extend a bit so you can pull it (gently) out. It's like the device was MADE for the user to use a paper clip on it! WOW!

It may be a good idea to do this with the computer off; some drives get notional when they have power applied and won't cooperate.

[Sherman Homan]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

First, you need a very high-tech tool: a paper clip. Unbend the paper clip until you have a straight length.

I believe the technical term for an unbent paper clip is an "ejectrode".

[pamelaviolet]

OK, I've finally got the thing running again. I went to Dell support Chat, and we tried several things. First off, we deleted the CD drive from the device manager list, and then the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, primary and secondary. Then a scan for hardware changes and viola, the CD drive is back on the list -- but still won't open.

That's the point when I tried the paperclip, and it took some poking, and the drive did respond and whir but wouldn't open right away. Finally it opened about 1/2", and I gently pulled it out the rest of the way. And Yes, there was a disk in the drive. The support tech suggested the drive might be dirty. I don't use it very often at all, but it hasn't ever been cleaned either.

The chat guy did NOT suggest I shut the system down to do this, but then I guess that would have also effectively ended the CHAT.

So after opening and closing several times, I tried an audio disk and now everything seems to be working fine. I loaded front page again and the hard drive didn't explode (maybe it's just squeaking along, waiting and hoping for that external drive to show up), so I should be OK for now.

Now if I could just get someone to volunteer to grade these papers!

Pamela,
having squandered the entire day before Easter and now have to clean house and cook dinner all in one day (tomorrow). Does it ever END?