How do I get my CD unstuck?

November 17, 2006 10:34 AM

How do I get my unresponsive CD drive to open?

I have tried both the manual way (pressing the button on the drive) and going to My Computer and doing a right click on the drive to eject. Both haven't been responsive at all. There isn't a light blinking at all. Any other ideas?

posted by wheelieman to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

there's often a hole next to the tray small enough to push an unbent paperclip through. it'll pop open the tray for you. an image of the process
posted by noloveforned at 10:38 AM on November 17, 2006 [1 favorite]

Is there a small hole, somewhere on the front of the drive? If so, you can manually engage the gears of the drive my pushing a paper clip in there. The tray will open enough for you to pull it open.
posted by ArcAm at 10:39 AM on November 17, 2006

If you haven't done it yet, reboot the computer. When it first starts loading up, try ejecting it then. It could be a software malfunction or a bad disc causing the issue. Happened to my old PC all the time with CDs from Staples and Adaptec EZ-CD Creator 4.
posted by educatedslacker at 10:48 AM on November 17, 2006

Best answer: The simplest way is to simply restart the computer. This will reset whatever process is hogging the CD drive.

I'm one of those who pines for the days of mechanical CD ejects. Whoever decided computers should have control of the eject button should be flogged.
posted by rolypolyman at 10:49 AM on November 17, 2006

I have had times when my CD drive needed to be hard booted. That is, powered off entirely for a minute, not just hitting the reset switch or choosing "reboot" from the OS.

If you haven't tried that yet, do so.
posted by aubilenon at 11:01 AM on November 17, 2006

Response by poster: Rebooting worked, Thanks!!
posted by wheelieman at 11:07 AM on November 17, 2006

I've got to give my mad props to educatedslacker, since he beat me to the punch.
posted by rolypolyman at 11:28 AM on November 17, 2006