Call Dell tech support and they can diagnose and decide on the repair action. If you cannot open with a paper clip then something is wrong mechanically with the drive, Is it possible that a disc is jammed in the drive? That drive can be removed from the laptop by removing one screw. But if you are under warranty, you may not want to do anything and let the techs advise you.

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/inspiron-15-3567-laptop_service-manual_en-us.pdf

Thank you. I've looked for phone support locally but they're out of business hours. I'll try again on Monday, although it's Dec. 31. I'll follow your advice and don't remove the cd case. I doubt it's a cd jammed inside, as I bought the laptop as new and never opened the cd tray.

Hi, I managed to solve that optical drive problem on warranty, thank you. Now I'm out of warranty and today I upgraded RAM with another 4 gb and it's working fine.

I would also like to upgrade with a 500 GB SSD, but also to keep the access to the optical drive. I read that I should put the SSD on the bay where the HDD is (will it fit?), then use a caddy to put the HDD in the place of the optical drive. Is this correct? Also that, if needed, I can still use the optical drive externally, by an usb connection.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Is there something else I should be aware of?

Thank you for your help.