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15003
XPS8100 DVD Drive won't open
I was writing a series of DVDs, ejecting them as they were written, then inserting a new one. At some point in the middle of one of the writes, the application reported a failure to write and exited. I pushed the eject button, but nothing happened. I rebooted - no improvement. I opened the DVD writer application and went to the toolbox and selected Eject - no action.
I opened the flap in front of the drive to see the front of the disk tray that is visible. But there doesn't seem to be any kind of manual slot to insert the proverbial paper clip or any other visible means of forcing the drive to open the tray.
Fortunately, I have two drives and the other drive continues to perform correctly.
However, if there's a way to open the drive, I'm still hopeful I can recover it.
Of course, the drive electronics may simply have failed, although I'm having trouble identifying a single source of failure that would both stop the drive from spinning and stop the door from opening (different motors, presumably).
Anybody have any experience with this? I'm probably not going to bother replacing the drive - I'll just use the second one. The computer is 4 years old by the way and well past warranty.
Thanks.
Stan
DELL-Babita S
1.3K Posts
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April 30th, 2014 12:00
Hi Stan,
Thank you for your reply.
It is great that you were successful in disabling the faulty optical drive.
If your system has active hardware warranty, we can arrange for the faulty optical drive to be replaced. Kindly share service tag details along with registered system owner name through private message only.
In case the hardware warranty on the system has already expired and you want to replace the faulty drive, you can contact our Out of Warranty Paid Repair Service department for further assistance. Click on this link for details: http://dell.to/1iEvJkX
Please reply if you have further queries, we'd be happy to assist.
Thanks and regards.
Babita S
#iworkfordell
To know more about Dell Product Support, Drivers & Downloads, Order & Dispatch status -> choose your region US Customers; UK Customers; India Customers. For Dell support videos click Here.
DELL-Babita S
1.3K Posts
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April 29th, 2014 14:00
Hi Stan,
Thanks for the reach out.
Tap F2 continuously at start-up. Once in the System Setup screen, try ejecting the disk again. Also, click on this link for steps to resolve this issue : http://dell.to/1h7La0q . Check under Serial # 8 for steps.
Let us know if further help is needed.
Thanks and regards,
Babita S
#iworkforDell
For easy access to drivers, manuals and product updates, please visit our Support Site .
raybot
4 Posts
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April 29th, 2014 20:00
I tried ejecting the disk from the system setup screen and it didn't do anything. I noticed that when I get an hourglass, it momentarily displays a small icon of a DVD in Windows, which suggests it is trying to read the disk that's in the drive (which is a bad disk because it was only partially written).
At this point, I can only conclude that the hardware is "broken." My other drive behaves normally so I don't think it's a software issue.
What's the best way to make the computer forget about this drive? Clearly, I could open the unit and disconnect the cable, but is there a way to disable the drive from the Setup screen or from within Windows. I can disable the device in the Device Manager, I suppose. Windows will still try to boot from the drive whenever it starts and increase the boot time as a result, however.
Is disconnecting the cable the only option?
Thanks for the assistance.
Stan
raybot
4 Posts
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April 29th, 2014 21:00
More info. Media Player will play a movie, then freeze and need to be killed each time. Windows Explorer will not refresh any folders - if you delete a file, it will not show the deletion and will freeze unless you kill it - the file will have been deleted when you look again. The Device Manager will not allow the device to be disabled or display any Properties for it - any attempt to access the device for any purpose will freeze the application.
So it appears that the drive is corrupting all sorts of things. I guess I'll have to open the computer and pull the cable - unfortunately, that will also remap all my drives at the same time - what a pain!!!!
Any thoughts on alternatives besides removing the cable?
Thanks,
Stan
raybot
4 Posts
0
April 29th, 2014 21:00
Good news. The Device Manager took a long time, but it did allow me to disable the drive. It did NOT remap the other drives and all the corrupted features are now working properly again, so I'm all set for now, it appears.
Thanks again,
Stan
osprey4
4 Operator
4 Operator
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34.2K Posts
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April 30th, 2014 11:00
Hi Stan,
Sorry to hear about the headaches. You could certainly test the drive using the Dell diagnostics to confirm or rule out a hardware failure. And a replacement DVD burner is fairly inexpensive (<$20).
DELL-Babita S
1.3K Posts
0
May 2nd, 2014 17:00
Hi Stan,
We have not received a feedback/response from you with reference to this issue.
Kindly respond if you need further assistance, we'd be happy to assist.
Thanks and regards.
Babita S
#iworkfordell
To know more about Dell Product Support, Drivers & Downloads, Order & Dispatch status -> choose your region US Customers; UK Customers; India Customers. For Dell support videos click Here.