CD Drawer won't open on Optiplex 160 and we get an 'eject' error screen every minute or so until we forcibly restart

Oh my God, the answers I\'ve found on the net on how to get the CD drawer on a Crosley CR247 open are all nuts. Mine wouldn\'t open yesterday and I dismantled the whole damn thing to get the tray open, but that isn\'t necessary.

First of all my unit was making noise when I hit the eject button but the drawer wouldn\'t open. I knew there was no CD in the tray. Powering down and all the other foolish answers I found didn\'t work. There is no small round hole in the front to do a manual eject. Trying to pry the door open won\'t work and you\'ll just damage the unit. Here\'s what you need to do. And do it all GENTLY. There is no need to force anything!

Take a small, pointed steak knife out of your kitchen silverware drawer. This is all you\'ll need to get the drawer open. First let\'s identify where we\'re going to put that knife blade. The CD drawer says "CD RECORDER" and there are 3 lines on each side of that label. Where you\'re going to put that knife is below the 3 lines on the left, to the left area of those lines (see picture). This is the location of the drawer lock.

If you still hear noise when you push the eject simply push in the knife gently as you push the eject button. The drawer will open if you got the right spot.

If you hear no noise, or your unit is dead and you want the CD out, or if you\'re just afraid to stick the knife in the unit, unplug the unit. Gently push in on that spot until the drawer pops out a little bit. Now you can gently open the drawer by hand.

You can see the drive belt and pulleys (see pic). Mine was still intact but needs replaced. Here is also the info I got off of the back of the CD (see pic). Might not be able to find a replacement belt but at least you can get the thing open. Good luck.

jim [email protected]

Make sure the computer is turned on then Take a Paper Clip (Gem Clip) and straighten it out then kneel in front of the desktop facing the cd drawer. Look closely at the drawer and you will see tiny hole where you will insert the paper clip (Gem Clip) and at the same time Press the Button on the cd drawer while applying pressure by pushing the paper clip (Gem Clip). The drawer will pop open. Don't worry about breaking something, that's why that tiny hole is there.

Is it a store purchased dvd movie or is it a dvd that someone made and gave to you? Computers sometimes have problems reading cd's and dvd's that someone made. Try a store purchased movie dvd or music cd.

When you press the button on the dvd drawer it does not eject? Clcik Start/My Computer then Right Click on the DvD Drive and click Eject.

If it still does not open, take a Gem Clip (Paper Clip) and straighten it out as much as possible. Then look at the DvD Drawer and you will see a tiny hole that you can insert the Gem Clip (Paper Clip) into. Push the Gem Clip (Paper Clip) while you press the button on the Dvd Drawer and drawer will open. Don't worry about damaging or breaking something, that is why that tiny hole is there.

Open up a paperclip so you have a couple of inches of straight wire. Take the USB stick out if possible. Find the little hole on the cd tray and gently push the paperclip in there,straight in. With luck, it'll click, and the CD drawer will open a lilbit, enough that you can grab it and gently pull it out. Do what you need to do, then close the drawer and put the USB stick back.
The keyword here is GENTLY, use only as much force as you must to get the drawer open. Be careful, but they're made with this unlocking feature for a reason. Good luck!

Eject what a Cd or DvD? If you can't get it to eject by pressing the eject on the drawer, try opening My Computer, then right click on the CD/DvD drive and select Eject. If it still does not eject you will need to straighten out a paper clip, get on your knees and look for a tiny hole on the cd drawer. Stick the paper clip into that tiny hole and push the drawer open.

1. Try clicking the button on the cd drive drawer door with your finger and see if it opens. If not try step 2.
2. Click Start/My Computer then Right Click on your CD Drive and select the Eject option. If both steps 1 and 2 fail proceed to step 3.
3. Get a paper clip and straighten it out as much as possible. Now get on your knees in front of your CD Drive and look for a tiny hole that will allow you to insert and push the drawer open with the paper clip. That little hole is there solely for that purpose.

there is a small hole on or around the drawer . straighten a paper clip insert it in the hole to release the lock .

Click start control panel administration tools computer management device manager scroll down cd-dvd rom drives you might see a yellow question /exclamation mark ? ! or a red X right click to update driver

you might have to physically unplug the leads for this cd/dvd restart your computer then plug them back this should activate the found new hardware wizard

if this does not fix the problem it might be a registry problem if you cant see your disk drive in windows explorer
Close all open programs

Click on Start, Run, and type regedit and press Enter
Click on the plus signs (+) next to the following folders

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

SYSTEM

CurrentControlSet

Control

Class

{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

This folder is the DVD/CD-ROM Drive Class Description in the registry. Look for any of the following names in the right hand column.

Upper Filters

Lower Filters

Upper Filters.bak

Lower Filters.bak

If any of the above keys shown in step 4 are listed, right-click on them and choose Delete

After deleting the keys, close the registry editor
Reboot your computer
Open My Computer and check to see if your CD or DVD drives have returned. You may also want to open Device Manager and verify that the yellow exclamation and error code on the CD or DVD drive is gone.

hope this helps you

or


you might have to uninstall then restart your computer then reinstall your DVD/CD then reinstall the driver for this device
hope this helps

Take a Norwegian paper-clip, and straighten one end.
Push that end into the small hole in the faceplate of the CD-ROM.
Push until you feel resistance, then gently push 1 more centimeter.
That should "unlock" the drawer, and you can "manually" open the drive the remaining 95%.

Opening a CD or DVD drive to retrieve a disc

• Use Windows to open the drive door:
  1. Double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop (or click Start and My Computer in Microsoft Windows XP).
  2. Right-click the CD, CD-RW, or DVD drive , and then click Eject .
• Restart the computer and press the EJECT button on the front of the drive when the first screen appears (before Windows launches). If the drive door opens this way but does not open in Windows, another software program is taking control of the CD drive. Try shutting down or configuring any programs that write discs or monitor the CD drive.
• If the door still will not open, do the following:
  1. Close all programs and shut down the computer.
  2. Unplug the PC from the power outlet and remove the battery.
  3. Locate the manual release hole in the front faceplate of the optical drive tray. This is a small hole under the door that is a little bigger than the diameter of a paper clip. The location of the manual eject hole will vary.
  4. Insert a straightened paperclip into the manual release hole until resistance is felt.
  5. Once the resistance is felt, keep pushing the paper clip until the drawer comes out about a quarter of an inch.
  6. Remove the paper clip and gently pull out the drawer until the disc is accessible.
  7. Remove the CD and turn on the computer.