Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Well, it has been a less-than-optimal day.

My home computer has a problem with the DVD drive and it (a) has a disc in it that won't come out, (b) is making grinding noises whenever I turn it on and (c) is apparently blocking me from signing on, or even getting the normal screen -- just gives me a flashing cursor on a black background. I am posting this from the library. I would unplug the bastard and manually pull the disc drive, but I can't figure out how to do it. Thus, I'll probably have to take it to a repair shop tomorrow. Posting will be spotty unitl I get the thing fixed, or, worst case scenario, am forced to replace it.
My cell phone also went tango uniform this morning and I bought another cheap Boost mobile phome at WalMart this afternoon. At least I'm back on THAT grid.

68 comments:

Charlie said...

Try this, there may be a small hole in the front of the dvd tray. Straighten a paper clip and insert it into the hole. This will manually release the tray. At that point you should be able to get the DVD out and start your computer.

Anonymous said...

There should be a small hole on the front of the drive just big enough to let a straightened paper clip in. Slide it it and it will pop the door open.

USCitizen said...

Straighten out a paper clip and insert it into the tiny round hole in the front of the DVD drive to manually release it.

Anonymous said...

If its a tray type DVD drive, you'll find a small hole on the tray. Poke a paper clip in there while the computer is off and the tray will open, allowing you to remove the DVD.

Anonymous said...

should be a very tiny hole on the front of the player - paper clip it and it will release the tray. I would then hard boot it and let it come upo and check for errors

Anonymous said...

don't know if the last comment went thru - dvd palyer will have a tiny hole in the front - use a paper clip to (press in) and the tray should extend out. Then hard boot and check for errors...

Anonymous said...

There is a hole on the front of the CD/DVD drive that a pin or unfolded paperclip will fit into. Don't push too hard, it pops open the tray.

Grinding noise is a bad sign. Cursor on startup is a worse sign. You should at least be getting a bios menu. Try pressing F8 or esc on startup (can be other keys too, it should tell you).

It may be time for a new machine.

Anonymous said...

Straighten a paper clip and insert into the pin hole on the front of the drive. This will manually eject the disc.

Peter/thedweeze said...

1. The front of your DVD-thingy has a small hole under the tray (usually). Take a paper clip, straighten it out and stick it in the hole. You'll hit the mechanism that slides the tray in and out. Push. The tray will open, and you can recover your disk. The computer doesn't need to be turned on for this to work. This might resolve the noise you're hearing.

2. If you can hold on until the beginning of the month, I have a DVD burner that I can send you.

Anonymous said...

this may help with the dvd drive. look for a very small hole in the front of the tray. A staightened paper clip should fit into it. With the power off, poke the paper clip in the hole; you may trip a catch, that with the power back on, will release the dvd tray. hope this helps.

Obvious Moniker said...

Most disk drives have a small hole on the faceplate about the diameter of a paperclip. That's a manual override. Right behind it is the spinning gear that controls the tray. Take a straightened paperclip and insert it in the hole. You should feel it hit the gear, and a little force should start the tray forward.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you have managed to have improperly inserted a disk in the drive.We've all done that. :)

You shouldn't need to purchase a new PC to rectify this situation.

Removal of the disk should be simple,and correct the boot issues you are having.

These boot issues are likely because your BIOS is set to a boot sequence placing the disk drive to be read first in line,before your hard drive is read.This is typical.

You could access the BIOS by pressing the delete key during boot.(you could skip this)
Then you can look for the "boot sequence" menu by following the prompts,please BE CAREFUL what you do in the BIOS,read carefully the screens and do not adjust anything other then changing the boot order so that your hard drive is first in line.
As a side note,this is how I configure the boot sequence in all my machines,as it makes boot that much faster.The only time you need to have disk drives before the hard drive with your operating system on it is when installing the OS to the hard drive from the disk drive.You want BIOS to read the disk drive first then.Otherwise,with a properly functioning OS on a good HD,booting directly to the HD saves boot time.

Here are some articles that may help in the removal of the stuck disk from the drive-

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/ppdropen.htm

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&dlc=en&docname=bph07168

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/disk-drives/f/3534/p/19450809/20112405.aspx

If these procedures do not work,then removal and replacement of the drive might be necessary.

If your machine is still under warranty,you should call the manufacturer before doing so(in fact,you might want to call before trying any of these things).

If you have the manual for your PC,it should detail the removal of hardware from the PC.

If not,its actually quite simple.Anyone who can do a tune up or replace alternators,water pumps,starters and such on automobiles can learn to do this.

http://www.wikihow.com/Install-a-CD-ROM-or-DVD-Drive

Just make sure that your PC is unplugged and that you take seriously the issue of static discharge,by touching either the case of the PC itself or the power supply when the PC is open to discharge any you may have.
It can easily destroy PC components if you are careless with static.

After you fix your hardware issues,if the software issues do not rectify themselves,try inserting the operating system disk and there should be a menu with the option to "repair installation" or some such.

This may be needed.

Worst case scenario,you will have to purchase and replace the drive,and reinstall the operating system.

Re-installation of the OS is simple,but if its your first time it can be daunting.

If thats what needs to happen and you've taken it thus far,with a repaired/replaced drive but still no functional OS,and either your machine did not come with a OS disk or repair options are unworkable for some reason,and you'd like to try to reinstall the OS yourself,email me at mementomori@hush.com.

Of course,repairing your PC is best left up to someone who knows what they are doing with computers,so if your uncomfortable at any point please seek knowledgeable assistance.

That being said,a guy who can reload his own ammo and such should have no problem repairing his own PC.


PMain said...

Mike, turn the PC off, bend a paper clip & insert it in the small hole on the DVD's face. That should pop open/release the drive & then try to boot it.

SWIFT said...

I'm not paranoid to report this, but people all over are complaining about slow downs and their computers acting strange, after visiting patriot sites. Personally, my computer often will not even respond to the mouse after visits to certain sites. I have to shut it down, best if I wait a couple hours, then reboot. Perhaps your problem is truly a computer related problem, but you, more than anyone, should know there are alternative answers.

Anonymous said...

open up your box, locate and unplug the drive from the motherboard...then close it up and boot up

Anonymous said...

Look at the front of your PC. On the face of the CD/DVD drive there should be a small hole. Unbend the appropriate size paper clip and insert it into the hole. Apply some preasure. The CD/DVD should come out.

Anonymous said...

There should be a small diameter hole on the front of the drive. Get a small steel rod - a 0.050 or 1/16" hex wrench should do - and push it into the hole. This will eject the disk whether it's powered up or not.

curly said...

See if there is a little pinhole on the drive drawer. While it is turned off jam a paper clip in that little hole to open the DVD drive.

Anonymous said...

should have a small pin hole on the face plate as a way to get it to open. try a bent paper clip.

Hollywood said...

Most of the time there is a small pin hole in the front of the drive, if you stick a paperclip in it, and push pretty hard it will pop the try out.

FedUp said...

Gotta be a manual release hole somewhere in the face of that drive. Straighten out a paper clip, shove it in there, and get that disk out.

Anonymous said...

There is a small hole on the cover of the drive that will fit a paper clip, that is the manual relase for the dvd drive. Try that before you take it too the shop

Anonymous said...

This might be a long shot but you can try anyway - there should be a hole on the DVD tray door big enough to stick a straightened paper clip into. Turn on the computer and gently poke the paper clip into the hole.
If the tray opens, you're lucky. If not, you're screwed.

Fidel said...

There is a very small hole under the DVD tray. Take a paperclip, unbend it and stick it in the hole. The tray will open, which will probably allow the computer to boot - it sounds like it is set in the BIOS to try booting from CD before HD.

Anonymous said...

most full-size disk drives have a very small hole that you can push a straightened paperclip into in order to manually unlock it and allow you to pull it open and remove the disk....but if it is a laptop, it might not have that.

Anonymous said...

In the front of the drive, ( i am assuming a desktop) is a pinhole under the drive tray. Take a paperclip with one end bent out straight, put it in the hole. Straight back you will feel the teeth of the drive tray. Just give it a little push and it will open. Take the dvd out and problem may go away.

Anonymous said...

Straighten a paper clip. Insert into a small hole on the face of the DVD drive, then push.

The DVD drive tray should open. Pull with hand the rest of the way.

Remove the offending disk.

Anonymous said...

There is small paper clip size hole on the drive that will manually eject the drive, even with power being off. Straighten a paper clip and insert and push it.

Anonymous said...

Darn, an FTE! pc or mac? if pc, small paper clip inserted into hole will 'manually eject'.

JAQUEBAUER said...



Its very easy to replace a dvd drive and theY are dirt cheap too. But first see if something has jammed it
There is a very small hole on the front of the dvd drawer. That hole is there to enable you to manually open the drawer in the event it gets jammed. Take a paper clip and straighten it--then with the computer turned off stick the end of the paper clip in the hole and jab it in firmly--the drawer should pop open a few inches and you can gently pull it open fully. sometimes the dvd discs get misaligned and that jams the mechanism-making noises and preventing the door from opening.
Look here for instructs in video.
https://encrypted.google.com/search?{google:acceptedSuggestion}oq=fix+jammed+dvd+drivee&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=fix+jammed+dvd+drivee
or goggle the term"fix jammed dvd drive"

New Egg or other vendors sell computer parts at very competitive prices. You will need to know the drive interface of your dvd drive. It's either an IDE or SATA. If you can fix a gun you can fix a computer..... In laymens terms, if there is a wide flat-about 2" wide cable plugged into the back of the dvd drive, then its an IDE. The SATA interface uses a very small diameter cable-approx 1/4" dia. In addition both type dvd drives have a second cable attached that supplies power, But the easiest way to determine dvd drive types is to look for the wide flat cable.
The net is full of instructions to help you--but I am confident you can do it. There are horror stories of repair shops trashing computers that were brought in for repair and all data lost--often years of family pictures--so back everything up to an external drive before working on it yourself or trusting it to others. Best buy has a terrible reputation-their geek squad is more like terrorist squad-they destroy anything the touch.
I hope this helps. Do it yourself can save you a lot of money. DVD drives can be had for less than 20 bucks delivered to your front door.
Item Item#: N82E16827136259 available at http://www.newegg.com/ s $ 17.99.

Good Luck.

Anonymous said...

There is usually asmall hole in the bottom, front of the cd/dvd drive. Open up one end of a paper clip, making it straight and insert it into hole. Press it with a slight amount of force and the tray will open, manually.

Hope that helps.

Anonymous said...

If you don't have it fixed by the time you get this, try these:

1. Look for a small hole in the front bezel about the size of a paper clip wire. Find a paper clip, straighten it out a bit and poke that in there. If the disk isn't jammed in at an angle, it may open the tray enough for you to fish the disk out.

2. If that doesn't work, then take the cover off the machine (assuming it's a desktop), and unplug the long, straight ribbon cable plug from the back of the drive. When you boot up, the BIOS will pass that option on start (it's listed as a higher order drive to seek than your hard drive, apparently). The machine will boot from C: at that point, unless you have a floppy and you have one stuck in there, too.

Failing that, take the C: drive out, put it in another computer with faster CPU and more memory and use the old box as a boat anchor. (JK . . . sortof).

-DM

P.S. I think I may relocate from West of the big muddy to East. NC is REALLY GREEN compared to the Wild West!

Anonymous said...

what brand of computer is it? some of the drives have a small pin hole that will allow you to insert a paper clip and eject the disc.

Anonymous said...

Turn off the laptop/pc. On the DVD player locate the little paperclip-size hole, straighten out the end of a heavy gauge paperclip, insert in the hole and give a good push. The tray should open.

Anonymous said...

Most DVD drives have a small hole in the door about the size of a pencil lead. That is the manual release. Unbend a paper clip and stick it in the hole and you should be able to open the door and get your disk out. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

On the front of the drive you'll see a very small hole.
Use a straightened paper clip and push straight back and the carrier "should" pop out.

Paul Davis said...

Take a large paper clip (1 to 2 in. size) straighten it back to the outer 180 so that the wire sticks straight out and (with the PC off) find the small hole in the front faceplate, place the straightened end of the wire in the hole and push. Depending on how "stuck" it is, it may take a little effort, but it should release the mechanism holding the tray in and allow you to remove the disc.

Anonymous said...

Look closely at the front bezel of your CD drive. You should see a small hole somewhere near the eject button.

Carefully insert a straightened paper clip into the hole and push inward against the spring tension. That should pop open the CD tray and allow you to remove the stuck disk.

Ian said...

On the front face of the DVD drive, there should be a very tiny hole. If you use a straightened paperclip and push in that hope, you should be able to eject the DVD tray with the power off.

Hopefully you can get it fixed easily.

What is "Occupation" said...

do you have a tiny hole near the drive? a straighten paper clip when the unit is shut down will eject the disk

Jon said...

use a paper clip to open the dvd drive....turn computer off...push clip into little hole on the front of the drive and push hard. :)

Sixgun Strategic said...

There's an almost-invisible hole on the front of the DVD drive, just below the disc tray. Partially-unbend a sturdy paper-clip and shove the end of it directly into that hole about an inch deep. It'll force the drive tray out and you can pull it the rest of the way by hand. Best to do it when the machine is off, but you can do it while it's on if you really must.

Sixgun Strategic said...

There's an almost-invisible hole on the front of the DVD drive, just below the disc tray. Partially-unbend a sturdy paper-clip and shove the end of it directly into that hole about an inch deep. It'll force the drive tray out and you can pull it the rest of the way by hand. Best to do it when the machine is off, but you can do it while it's on if you really must.

Anonymous said...

All drives have an emergency eject button, hidden inside a hole near the tray. Look for a hole into which you push an unfolded paper clip. It will allow you to manually force the tray to open, and then you can retrieve the disc.

DaveH said...

Look for a small hole in your tray or the bezel.

Unbend the first loop of a paperclip (you only need less than an inch) and press firmly into the hole.

This is a mechanical failsafe and is (should be) on all drives.

Anonymous said...

There is a small hole, on the front of the drive. Straighten out a paperclip, and gently poke it in the hole. when you feel it bottom out, then press firmly. The drive door should open, and the tray start to slide out, letting you remove the disk.

Doc said...

Mike:

Two things to do.

First to get the disk out of the DVD player, look at the front of the DVD player. There is a tiny hole there just for this purpose. Take a paperclip, unroll it and insert it in the hole. The drive part will pop right out.

Second, you can turn the DVD player off! When the computer boots up, hit the key that says that you'll enter the bios. Sometimes it's F2, sometimes DEL, whatever it says on the screen. It will either say "enter bios" or "enter setup"

When you are in the setup, you'll see a list of devices. The one that says CD or DVD, you can highlight and change to "none".

This way the computer won't even look for it. Replacing it is fairly simple. Four screws and two wires on the back. DVD players with read/write are fairly cheap now. If you aren't sure you want to tackle the electronics part, external drives cost a little more now, but can be practical. I have an external that is read and write and I get to take it with me and add a second drive to laptops and such.

Anonymous said...

In the front of every CD/DVD drive there is a pin-hole that is just big enough for a paper-clip to be unfolded and stuck in to.

PRAXIS:
Get a paperclip, straighten it out, find the hole, stick the end of the paper-clip in the hole and feel for the 'lever' in there. Push firmly and the drive will eject.

Anonymous said...

FWIW, you can make a dead optical drive "say ahhh". Unfold a paperclip and poke it into the hole on the front below the disk carrier. That releases the locking mechanism.

It's called emergency eject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjOBQWSjrg0

RSR

Anonymous said...

Can't help with the other problems, but most DVD/CD drives have a tiny hole on the front. If you push the end of a paperclip into that hole it disengages the lock and opens the drive.

Lazy Bike Commuter said...

Getting the disc out shouldn't be too much of an issue--there's a small hole in the front of the tray that is an emergency release. Straighten part of a paperclip and stick in there (it will take a little force) and it will push the drive open enough for you to get the disc out (do this while the computer is off).

The rest of the issues sound a little bit deeper than just a bad drive, though.

CowboyDan said...

Mike, thers a small hole on the drawer if the DVD drive. It's designed for such moments as this. Push a straightened paper clip about 1/4" into the hole. This will release the catch on the drive and open the drawer.

After that, it should be easy to remove the disk. Once the disk is out, your computer will probably start Windoze in a close to normal manner. I think the default boot order is to look first to the disk drive.

If your disk is not bootable, the machine will not start Windoze. I'm going to email this to you also. Hopefully, that will get through if you're not at the library when this comes over.

I'll try also to text it to you.

Anonymous said...

The paper clip trick wouldn't open the DVD?

Anonymous said...

There is a small hole on the front of the drive itself.
Use a straightened paperclip and insert until the disc tray pops out. :)

CowboyDan said...

Mike, thers a small hole on the drawer if the DVD drive. It's designed for such moments as this. Push a straightened paper clip about 1/4" into the hole. This will release the catch on the drive and open the drawer.

After that, it should be easy to remove the disk. Once the disk is out, your computer will probably start Windoze in a close to normal manner. I think the default boot order is to look first to the disk drive.

If your disk is not bootable, the machine will not start Windoze. I'm going to email this to you also. Hopefully, that will get through if you're not at the library when this comes over.

I'll try also to text it to you.

Anonymous said...

Most DVD drives have a small hole on the face underneath the tray. Use a sturdy paper clip straightened out, and push through the hole until the tray releases.

Anonymous said...

There should be a push pin sized hole somewhere on the front of the DVD drive. Using a safety pin or similarly sized object, push it into that small hole. That should push the front of the disc tray out enough to where you can pull it out manually.

Anonymous said...

Can't be that hard to disconnect and remove the disk drive.

Anonymous said...

Darn, An 'FTE'! pc or mac? If pc, paper clip inserted into hole in dvd drive will manually eject ...

Anonymous said...

Flip down the lid on your dvd player in your computer. Look all around it to see if there is a tiny hole (mine has one on the bottom right hand side). Get a paper clip. Straighten it out and push it in that hole. It should cause your DVD drawer to slide open.

Paul X said...

No, don't take it to a shop. Just press F2 when it boots and take the DVD drive off the list of boot devices or make it lower priority than the hard drive. Or, just open the box and pull the power cable from the DVD drive.

Too bad I can't help since I'm halfway across the country. Maybe email me your phone number and I'll walk you through it? It's pretty simple...

Oops you probably can't read my response!

Anonymous said...

take a paperclip and straighten it out. In the front of the dvd drive there will be a small hole. Put the paperclip in the hole and push. the drive will open.

Docgmt said...

On the front of the drive door is a small hole take a paper clip bent straight about and inch and a half long, push into the hole and it will unlock the door latch letting you open the drive and get the disk out.

Anonymous said...

Be alert sounds like you may be under attack.

Anonymous said...

If you look on the face of the DVD drive you should see a little pin hole. Straighten out a paper clip and insert in the hole. This should manually eject the DVD tray even if the computer is off.

If the tray still doesn't open you can try gently pry open the tray AS you push the pin hole.

Anonymous said...

is there a small pin hole on dvd drive?
paper clip straightened may pop out


Anonymous said...

You can manually eject the CD/DVD drive. Somewhere on the face of the drive will be a small hole. Straighten out a paper clip (just the first bend) and insert it into that hole. This will push the tray of the drive out a little bit. Then you can just open and close it by hand. It won't damage anything.

Mark III

Anonymous said...

Geez, did anyone mention to poke a paper clip in the hole in the front of the DVD drive?

RIF, people.