DVD drive keeps opening on its own

Hello!
My DVD drive on my Dell notebook keeps opening on its own, even in safe mode. It says it is working correctly and there are no updates. About 2 weeks ago I had Yoog! I got rid of it and then followed all of the steps listed on this site for basic computer maintenance and security, so I have all of the recommended programs. It ran great for 2 or 3 days, then I started to have this problem and it started taking longer to boot up and run again. I tried system restore with no luck. Could it be mal-ware if it happens in safe mode also?

 

Okay, thank you.

 

Not to shed doubt on plodr's advice, but it's been my experience that when CD/DVD drives open by themselves (meaning that they don't stay closed; you push the tray in to close it and it opens on it's own right away), it means that the drive has failed and it's time to replace it. Laptop optical drives are generally under $70 or so depending on if it's a DVD burner or CDRW/DVDROM combo or whatever. However, some models (primarily Averatec and Alienware) can have VERY expensive optical drives, so do some research before buying, and make sure you can swap it out yourself. Some laptops require fairly major surgery to swap out an optical drive, but others are very simple. BUT... follow plodr's advice above first and make sure that it isn't malware or Windows related (maybe Windows is sending an 'open now' signal to the drive for some reason)....
Good luck!
:-D

 

It's not that it won't stay closed, it does stay closed some of the time. It may stay closed for an hour or two. Then it may open 10 times in 30 minutes. Plus my laptop is only about a year old and I never use the DVD drive. I can hear it start running right before the tray pops out and sometimes I hear it make the same noise, but it doesn't pop out. How could I tell if Windows is sending an "open now" signal?