Optical Drive won't eject

Question

I am an IT Administrator for a federal government agency.  Our agency recently did a national buy of DELL Optiflex GX280 workstations.  We're having continual problems with the optical drives not ejecting CDs.  We're not using Sonic.  It happens whether the machine is horizontal or vertical, music or data CDs.  Rebooting or using paper clip _can_ work in a pinch, but I want to resolve this for my users so the drive button or software ejects work as they should.  Any ideas what's going on?  Thanks...

Trishymouse · Answer

We're not using any CD burning software on the DELL workstations we're having the problem on.

The CDs are created on Gateway laptops using FTR Recorder software in the hearing rooms, and other users play them using FTR Player on the DELL OptiPlex GX280 optical drives.

FTR (For the Record) website - http://www.ftrgold.com.au/intro.asp?FL=Y

Skybird · Answer

It is possible that the DLA portion of the Sonic software is taking
control of the drive. Dell did issue an update to address the problem
here ...............

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

See if it helps.

DLA is the packet writing software for Sonic. If it is not used, you
may want to disable it or even remove it from the systems.

Skybird · Answer

Maybe I mis-read you post.  You said you were not using Sonic. I took that tomean it was installed but not being used.  My error.  What burning software are you using if any?

Trishymouse · Answer

Are you saying that even if we're not using Sonic software (to my knowledge we are not in my Agency), the software is still on these systems?

Skybird · Answer

I don't have experience with that software, but I would suspect the player
linked to the eject function in some way. Perhaps the CD requires ejection
through the software? Sorry I can't help much. I'll do some searching
and see what I come up with.

bshzl · Answer

Any news on this issue? We have had the same issue with our Optiplex GX 260 machines. After rebooting they seem to work fine... for a while. Most of the systems have Roxio Easy CD Creator 6 installed.

systemlink · Answer

Interesting. Does right-clicking on the cd drive icon and selecting eject work? I personally haven't had any problems with roxio.

bshzl · Answer

Q: Does right-clicking on the cd drive icon and selecting eject work? A: Not in my cases. I assume the same is true for Trishymouse as well, otherwise I doubt she would list getting 'software ejects work as they should' as an issue that she wants to get resolved.   Heather Humphris, a Dell Gold Technical Support Specialist, offered the following advice, which I have yet to try: 'If you boot to the BIOS (F2 at the Dell screen) does it eject reliably there? How about in safe mode (F8 at startup)? Do you have another IDE cable that we can test on this system?'

Trishymouse · Answer

You're right, it doesn't work (right-click eject) for me.  I will try the BIOS & F8 ideas as soon as possible and let you know what I find...   By the way, the software we mainly use our optical drives with - FTR (For the Record) suggested I flash the BIOS up from A03 to A06, which I did, but to no avail.  No effect whatsoever.  I also updated the chipset driver, but that didn't help either...

systemlink · Answer

Would it be to much to switch to a different cd burning software?

Trishymouse · Answer

We're not using the optical drives for burning CDs.  We're using them for playback of recorded CDs from official government hearings, using a software called ForTheRecord or FTR.  This is a national purchase and all offices nationwide have the same image.  Using a different software is NOT an option.

oscarsdad · Answer

I had the same problem with my Dell Demension 8400. Finally traced the problem to Musicmatch. Can not uninstall the program because of a missing dll. I went to Musicmatch options and unchecked everything, Seems to have cured my eject woes.

bshzl · Answer

Our systems do not have Musicmatch installed.

JohnClark2005 · Answer

I encountered this problem at a Federal agency too. The problem was related to their CD and the CD recording settings of Windows XP. Apparently, the CDs used by this agency were still open for recording. Also, the native CD recording option of Windows XP was enabled. Naturally when you insert an open CD, Windows will lock the drive to gain exclusive "write access" to the disk. This will prevent you from ejecting the CD. To solve this problem, just disable the "enable CD recording on this drive" option. To do this, just perform the following steps:

1. Open My Computer

2. Locate and right-click the CD drive icon

3. Click on Properties

4. Click the Recording tab

5. Uncheck the “enable CD recording on this drive” option

6. Click Apply

7. Click OK

Alternatively, you could also tweak the Windows XP registry to disable this option. To learn more on how to do it via Windows registry, just open this tutorial link:

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/979

Trishymouse · Answer

I will try that.  THANKS for the tip...

Storage, Drives & Media

Optical Drive won't eject

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