Removing ultrabay drives from A31p *PIC*

[Blzut3]

Recently I acquired an A31p. However I seem to be having a problem with ejecting ultrabay drives. The initial switch locks up at roughly half way and the tab never comes out. If I pull the tab out from there I'm able to pull out small devices such as a hard drive, battery, or floppy drive. But, my DVD drive is stuck in the machine. Is there a solution to the problem?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Could be a couple of things:

- the top or bottom cover of the optical drive is hitting the lip of the Ultrabay guide rail or the edge of the case
- the optical drive's front bezel is too tall or wide and is getting hung up on the case

As you say that other Ultrabay devices don't seem to have any problem with ejecting, then I'd guess that there's something different about the DVD drive. If your drive is stuck because of some physical blockage between the drive and the Ultrabay opening, then you might be able to squeeze/expand the pieces and pull the drive out. As a last resort, you should insure that the Ultrabay eject lever has been fully extended before doing the following as this can break the drive:

- use the emergency eject hole of the drive to open up the tray (straighten out a paper clip and insert in the small hole, usually near the drive's eject button)
- extend the tray all of the way out
- grab the tray with one hand along the side rails and with a gentle side-to-side rocking motion, pull the drive out of the Ultrabay

I have also posted a short video on how to release the Ultrabay lever if the sliding switch itself is broken. This doesn't seem to be your exact problem but in case somebody else reads this thread and is looking for help along these lines....

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44309

[Blzut3]

I should note that this laptop appears to have been modified by it's previous owner (I think it has a wireless G card and it has been upgraded to 1GB of memory).

Anyway, I don't think the problem is the drive's bezel. When I try to forcefully remove the drive (well forcefully pulling the lever out) it pops out to about the point where the bezel ends. The problem is optical drives are slightly wider than, for example, a battery and so I can get a grip on it to pull the rest of it out. Or something like that. It appears to be the standard DVD/CD-RW combo drive so I don't think the drives form could be an issue (it's in the right bay so it's possible it has never been removed before).

I suppose I'll just have to live with the drive in here permanently since possibly breaking the drive isn't much of an option.

[Harryc]

Has the drive retention (locking) screw been removed from the bottom of the Thinkpad?

[Blzut3]

Which screw would this be?

[rkawakami]

On the A31p's Ultrabay, the retention screw is on the bottom of the laptop, sort of between the sliding release button and the eject lever. My understand from the wording of your initial post was that you were able to install/remove an Ultrabay floppy drive, battery and hard driver adapter, and that you now have a stuck DVD drive. Thus, I did not ask about this retention screw (aka, security screw). If there is a screw installed, then you should not be able to move the sliding button.

edit: Here's a clickable thumbnail picture -

[BillMorrow]

if the drive retention screw is not the culprit, have you considered removing the keyboard and bezel to check what might be holding the ultrabay devise in the A31p..

also, you did not mention which of the two ultrabay's your CD drive is inserted in..
not that that would make MUCH of a difference..

[SMA]

Could be that the previous owner had the machine taken apart and not having installed the ultra bay slot correctly.

[Blzut3]

Harryc and rkawakami, thanks for the information and picture. I took these screws out and the ultrabays work as expected.

EDIT: Extended the thanks.

[rkawakami]

You can thank Harryc for that . I had assumed that the screw wasn't the problem....