Dell Cd Tray Won't Open. Not Faulty Drive

Whoareyou · Jan 20, 2016

Hi.
Iv just purchased a second hand PC. But the cd drive tray won't open. The green light flashes for a bit. You can here a couple of clicks then nothing. The paper clip trick does not work either.
Which lead me to believe a faulty drive. So I replaced it with a new drive but... The same problem!

Any suggestions?

Thanks

MaxTurner · Jan 20, 2016

Maybe you should have spoken with the seller first. If you bought it from a shop or reputable online seller the same legal guarantees about 'fit for purpose' generally apply. If the tray itself is faulty then it simply needs repairing.

plodr · Jan 20, 2016

1. Try to open it before Windows loads. If it opens, some program is locking it. Examine any burning programs installed and carefully check the settings.

2. Make sure the power connector to the drive is tight. If you have spare power connectors on the PSU, try a different power connector.

3. Disconnect the IDE cable or the SATA cable going to the drive and fire up the computer. Does the drive open? If so, replace the IDE or SATA cable.

Whoareyou · Jan 21, 2016

Hi, thanks for the reply.
The tray did open with the paper clip once the computer was shut down.
I uninstalled a free cd burning software programme I recently downloaded (which I had used on a different computer perfectly fine) and it seems to have done the trick!

Thanks

plodr · Jan 21, 2016

I'm glad it was a fairly easy solution.
Now you have an optical drive and a spare because you replaced one.

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Dell Cd Tray Won't Open. Not Faulty Drive

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