CDROM LED light always ON (even when no cd in drive) ?

[anonymouse]

I just received my new T42 (2379R9U) a few days back.

I have noticed a green rectangular LED light on one side of the DVD CD/RW drive (on the video connector side) as being constantly ON. The DVD CD/RW also has another tiny circular LED of its own roughly in the middle (right next to the CD eject button) which only lights up only when you load/access the CD. Is there a problem with this light being constantly on or is this normal. I am assuming that the LED is present on all T42 models.

What, if anything, am I missing. Thanks for your help in advance!

[JHEM]

What, if anything, am I missing. Thanks for your help in advance!

Nothing. The small LED indicates that the system has mounted the optical drive and it's ready to operate. It's also there to serve as a warning to never remove the drive while the light is lit.

If you release the drive lock and wait a second, XP will "stop" the drive and announce that it can now be removed. At that point the light will go out and you can pull the tab to remove the drive.

Regards,

James

[anonymouse]

Apologies, let me clarify again. We are talking about the rectangular LED close to the external monitor connector (this LED is mounted on the main chassis, not on the drive cover). The LED stays lit all the time even when there is NO CD is the CD ROM drive. Is that normal behavior? (I am not talking about the 2nd tiny LED that is very close to the eject button on the drive cover).

[JHEM]

What part of my response do you not understand?

I'm referring to the rectangular shaped, small, green LED above the optical drive, not to the small, circular LED in the drive's tray.

Release the drive lock for the Ultrabay Slim, XP will stop the drive and the LED will go off, indicating that you can now remove the drive itself NOT a CD in the drive's tray.

Regards,

James

[anonymouse]

What part of my response do you not understand?

Thanks a bunch for clarifying. Your kind/polite response is appreciated!

[rhobite]

If you remove the drive from the bay you'll see that the LED is actually part of the Thinkpad - it's part of the Ultrabay system, and it indicates that there is a drive connected in the bay. I don't know if it lights up if you have the Ultrabay battery, it probably does. The drive access light is an LED on the drive itself - on my combo DVD/CDRW it's to the left of the eject button. That light should only flash when there is a disc being accessed in the drive. HTH.