Acer 8x4x32 CD R/RW

[Snapafun]

OK. It's oldish, but until yesterday it was working fine.

At one stage I pushed the button to open the draw to remove an installation CD having completed installing yet another app I wanted to look at.

The usual 'touch' on the front of the draw to close it again did not work and I ended up [ gently ] pushing the draw all the way home.

So I figured that when I rebooted tonight and saw the LEDs flicker that everything was OK. However, I just went to use it and it appears dead.

I also have an DVD reader and thinking that it might read my CD, I would use that until I got the CD out and repaired.

The same thing happened after I removed the CD -[ It didn't read- ] in that I started to push the draw all the way home just as I did with the CD. Well, I stopped that and used the button this time and the draw went in correctly. It works using the button in and out at present and using the touch on the draw to close it works fine again also. So the DVD appears to have 'corrected' itself.

So what about the CD ? - [ Not even using the button gets anything happening at the present ].

Have I toasted it or what?

I am running Mandrake 10 Official with Kernel 2.6.7.

I'm posting this just in case I have struck some form of software issue.

Unless you know I've stuffed up of course! Tell me.

Do I roll up the sleeves and dig into the hardware, or pull hair out sorting software.

[kevinalm]

You might want to check your cabling, particulary the power leads to the drive. Do you use any Y adaptors? Try unplugging and plugging everything back in. Ide cables too. Worth a try anyway.

[banzaikai]

Howdy.

My guess is your motor or belt went bad, or something got jammed. I doubt it's software. Follow:

There is a small motor that opens/closes the cd tray, and it is usually geared directly to the tray or geared via a small "square" belt. Most likely the latter, since it is quieter. Belts have a nasty habit of stretching, slipping, and just plain popping off, so that's were I'd look first.

Also check the gearing and alignment of the tray, as there are small micro switches that let the controller know when the tray is out or you're pushing it back in. If it's off by even one tooth, it may operate just as you describe.

You may have a bad motor (or 12V problem as kevinalm mentions), which you can check by locating the belt/gears, and seeing if they move when you hit the eject button. A trick I learned here is to put a "dot" of white-out or nail polish on one of the moving parts to help you see if it actually moves.

The last possibility is you've got a bad switch, wire, or sensor on the control board. Those are hard, if not impossible, to fix, short of a new drive.

Good hunting...

banzai "cd extractor, extraordinaire" kai

[Snapafun]

Thanks kevinalm && banzaikai

Tomorrow night I roll up the sleeves and get on with it.

I'll post back here my findings so that others may share.

[banzaikai]

Okay, but...

Try kevinalm's suggestion first, as it can be done without ripping apart the drive. If it doesn't work, then you'll have to rip that puppy apart.

More tips:

Use a spare power supply to connect the drive out of the case (you won't need the I/O cable if kevinalm's idea doesn't work). Make sure the supply has NO "minimum" spec for currents on the supply rails - this means a load MUST be present when powering up, or the supply will switch-mode into a cloud of smoke. I use an old Packard Bell 85W AT unit with an old Quantum LPS as a "load" for the rails that need it. Works perfectly.

A quick way to see if the main spindle motor is working is to insert a CD so the label is oriented "9-to-3" o'clock in the tray. If the clamp and motor are okay, the CD will most likely be in a different position when ejected.

You can temporarily jump the wires on the switches to see if any are bad (as you would with the ATX mobo power-on header).

While you've got it opened, now's the time to put some blue LEDs in there :D
Unless it doesn't work :(

banzai "mad modder" kai