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CD drive on T43 Randomly Keeps opening

T40/T41/T42/T43 Series
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CRAZYBUBBA
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Location: Kingston, Ontario

CD drive on T43 Randomly Keeps opening

#1 Post by CRAZYBUBBA » Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:38 am

Heya guys, I have a T43 and it's great but the cd drive randomly opens sometimes, and frustratingly this happens even when I'm watching a dvd.

Is there some way to tighten the drive? Do I need to buy a new one?

Edit: The drive itself is not falling out or anything, but the cd tray keeps opening up.

stuartf
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Location: Middlesex, Vermont USA

CD opening

#2 Post by stuartf » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:19 am

When I had that problem on my T43, I brought it to Lenovo here in Guangzhou, China. Fifteen minutes later, I walked out of there with a new CDRW/DVD unit installed under warranty.

HTH

stuartf
T23, X32 (2672-A43), T43 (2687D4U)

CRAZYBUBBA
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Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:47 pm
Location: Kingston, Ontario

#3 Post by CRAZYBUBBA » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:57 am

I don't have a warranty. What exactly was the problem? Can i fix it without spending money?

CRAZYBUBBA
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Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:47 pm
Location: Kingston, Ontario

#4 Post by CRAZYBUBBA » Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:35 pm

Does anyone in Toronto have a T43 or compatible machine? I'd like to switch our cd drives in order to see if the problem is with my drive or machine.

stuartf
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#5 Post by stuartf » Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:48 pm


I don't have a warranty. What exactly was the problem? Can i fix it without spending money?


As I said, they took one look at it, grabbed a new drive off the shelf and off I went. We didn't share much language in common, other than our preference for TPs!
T23, X32 (2672-A43), T43 (2687D4U)

zdriver
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#6 Post by zdriver » Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:39 pm

All you can really do is try cleaning the optics with isopropyl alcohol and blowing any dust out with canned air.
Then run pcdoctor diags with a known good commercial dvd and see what it reports about the drive.
Any ultra slim bay ata drive will work, the dvd cdrw combo drives go for around $25 used.
X200s 7470-A12 1.86Ghz 8GB WXGA+ 1440x900 HyperX SSD 120GB Windows7 Pro 64bit

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rkawakami
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#7 Post by rkawakami » Sun Dec 14, 2008 12:14 am

It's possible that the tiny pushbutton switch behind the plastic button on the front bezel is, or is about to be, stuck in the "depressed" position. You can sometimes check on this by noting how the button feels when you push on it. It should have a positive "click" to it, just as the tray pops open.

Besides that button, another way to open the drive (while running) would be for a program to issue a tray eject command to the drive. I'd doubt that any of your "normal" CD or DVD programs would do that by themselves, so that leaves malware to blame. Run a virus scan on your system to see if you have picked up a poltergeist.
Ray Kawakami
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NOTE: All links to PC-Doctor software hosted by me are dead. Files removed 8/28/12 by manufacturer's demand.

CRAZYBUBBA
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Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:47 pm
Location: Kingston, Ontario

#8 Post by CRAZYBUBBA » Sun Dec 14, 2008 1:23 pm

I'm looking locally for a T40 series CD drive so that i can replace the drive and see if the drive itself is problematic. For $20, i think that it makes sense for me to replace the drive since all firmware fixes have failed. Thanks for the help everyone.

CRAZYBUBBA
Freshman Member
Posts: 108
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 6:47 pm
Location: Kingston, Ontario

#9 Post by CRAZYBUBBA » Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:47 am

Just to update everyone, I've found a cd drive locally and replacing it has addressed the problem.

md23128
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 12:26 pm
Location: Warsaw, Poland

#10 Post by md23128 » Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:30 pm

hi all,

I have the same with my CD-R/DVD drive in T43. Is there any other chance to fix it than buying a new drive?

Thanks for help, m.

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