CD Drive won't open - multiple PCs

[Designware]

Just a general question about something I seem to be seeing a lot. I regularly come across PCs that the drive bay will no longer open. I am replacing these drives and the new drive works fine.

My question is, are drives made so cheap that they go out regularly? Are there brands that are higher quality than others? Is there something my users are doing to make these drives refuse to open? Any other related comments?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dale

 

[IPTnewbie]

keep the coffee out of the cd tray and dont buy from gateway

 

[wahnula]

I have had many many optical drives fail, but usually in reading, like a DVD drive that no longer reads CDs or vice versa. I have never had one quit opening, though. Dirty environment maybe?

 

[bcastner]

They do not open with the button?
They do not open if sent a software eject command?
Both?


____________________________
Users Helping Users

 

[SkipCox]

I'm gonna guess here...

It won't open with the button without several tries.
It will usually open with a software eject the first time.

And yes, they're built cheap. That's one reason you can buy a dual layer DVD R/RW for less than forty bucks. When a cd/dvd gives me trouble, I trash 'em or put 'em in an older machine.

Replace the drive to be safe. A crappy cd/dvd drive can bring a system to its knees.

Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[Designware]

Thanks for the responses!

The drives that fail do not fail to read. If there's a CD in the drive, it contintues to read it ... it will simply not eject (unless I do the paperclip thing).

It will not eject using the button on the front of the drive, or from within "My Comupter" by right-clicking on it and choosing EJECT.

The environments vary .... from very clean to dirty.

FYI, you can hear the drive bay try to open, and sometimes even see the bay move a little, but doesn't open. On SOME of them, I can take a little screwdriver, and "help" it when it tries to open, and it will open the rest of the way. On others, it seems like nothing will get it open.

Thanks for everyone's repsonses.

Dale

 

[Auger282]

I'd start handing out paper clips ;]

 

[TrojanSquirrel]

I seem to remember reading that the "guts" of every CD drive are all made by either Sony or Phillips.

I would therefore assume that low cost drives cut corners on the drive enclosure to keep down the costs.

Buy cheap, buy twice I think applies here.

Regards,

Rob

http://www.transcom.net