Open/Close Switch broken on DVD drive

[JudgeGarth]

When I pressed it, it went all the way in and now it's stuck. I can still open and close the drive if I stick a Q-tip or something like that into it. Is it worth getting it fixed? Will it last very long like that? How about the open hole in the case where the button used to stick out--is there any problem with dust/smoke, etc. getting into the computer's innards? I use the drive a lot. (Sony drive)

[oldandinthe way]

Of course it isn;t worth getting it fixed. New DVDburners cost about $30.00

No one will fix anything for $30.00.

You can run it until it dies. Dust, smoke etc will help it die. Your computer will probably not suffer for it.

Try www.newegg.com for a reasonably priced drive

[12Quidkidinnit]

I've got a cardboard box full of parts from a broken Sony CD burner which I accidentally killed by pushing the tray in a bit too hard. It sheered a few teeth of one of the drive cogs.

Will it still close if you give it a gentle push ? If so, you're halfway there. And if you right click on the drive in My Computer, it should have, amongst other commands, Eject. Does this work on yours ?

[classfour]

It's certainly not worth taking in for repairs. If it was, you either have too much money (I can email you my mailing address, and you can send me the bountiful surplus), or are extreeemmmeeeelyyy attached to the Sony. If you can do the swap yourself, I'd highly recommend shopping online for a replacement - you'll save half compared to B**yB*y et al. As cheap as drives have gotten, I seem to manage to stay 2 or 3 ahead (I'll buy one for $29 shipped if I know it'll just get installed in the near future - or sold to a needy friend).

[handyguy]

Push a paperclip into the pin hole in front to push the drawer out.

[Grain]

Use ImgBurn, it has open and close buttons in the GUI.

[nic2k4]

You can use this nifty little command line utility to open and close your drive:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

Unzip it and double click nircmd.exe, it will ask you to copy itself to your Win directory. Then right click your destop and select new - shortcut. In the command line box paste the folowing and replace D: with the correct drive letter:

nircmd cdrom open D:

Click next and call it Open. To close the drive, repeat the process with this command:

nircmd cdrom close D: