T23 is self-ejecting the optical drive

[ac12]

My T23 has recently been self-ejecting the optical drive.
Not physically, but via the system.
I get a pop up message that the DVD drive is OK to be removed.
BUT I did not tell the computer to remove the drive????

Any idea what could be causing this to happen?

[rkawakami]

My guess is that the lever that releases the Ultrabay drive is a bit out of alignment. It controls a switch that is attached to the Sub Card. That switch tells the system that the lever has been released and the Ultrabay drive ready to be pulled out. When the system is powered up and an Ultrabay drive recognized, the LED in the center of the right hinge should light up. It looks like a square with an arrow inside, pointing to an "X" on the right. When you release the lever using the Ultrabay latch (slide 'switch' next to the right rear corner), the LED goes out, indicating that power has been removed from the Ultrabay and it's safe to remove the drive. I would assume that this is happening at the same time the message appears that tells you to remove the drive.

It's possible that a mounting tab on the Ultrabay has broken and is allowing the right rear corner of the system to flex enough that the switch is being activated. Or that the Sub Card is not exactly where it is supposed to be. You might be able to temporarily fix this problem by installing the Ultrabay "security" screw. This would prevent movement of the eject lever and hopefully keep the switch from moving. The hole for it is on the bottom of the system right below where the eject lever pops out. I would also verify that all of the case screws are still present in the area; two screws underneath an oval cover at the back (next to the Kensington lock slot) and one screw on the bottom, below the Ultrabay latch.

[skou]

The other thing you might want to look at, is the cover for the ultrabay holder. Pop off the keyboard and hinge cover, and see if the upper right corner of the metal cover for the bay still has that strap that goes to the hinge bolts attached.

The upper bolt on the right hinge, goes completely through the hinge base, and into the top of the metal ultrabay cover.

That little metal strap holds down the cover, and keeps everything together in that corner.

steve

[ac12]

Just had the eject message again.
This is with the computer just sitting on the counter. No movement to the computer.

Just like you said Ray, the light w the arrow pointing to the X went out.
I checked the 3 screws, and they are in place and were snug down.

Steve,
I need to open the case to fix a crack in the palm rest. When I do that I will check for the strap.

I just had an idea. Could it be the DVD drive itself that is causing the problem? If the drive is pushing the lever out of alignment. To check I am going to put in the old CD drive for a while and see if the eject message still pops up.
>> And I just got the same eject message and the light on the hinge went out. So the problem is not the drive itself. Guess I'm going to have to open it up.

Thanks guys

[skou]

Where is the crack on the palmrest? If it is in the lower right, you most likely have a cracked Ultrabay holder.

Most of the T2* stuff I've seen with a crack on the palmrest there, had a broken-off bracket on the bay cover.

steve

[ac12]

Palm rest has a crack on the front left corner.
Near as I can tell it is only the plastic. I figure it must have gotten caught on something, or when the prior owner PULLED out the drive.

[fefrie]

I had a t23 I just sold with the same problem. The issue with the t23 is that you have to be VERY careful in how you lift the laptop. The right side of if the chassis is very weak. The keyboard bezel is attached all the way from the wrist rest to the hinge by just plastic. When I had my thinkpad I glued the bezel to both sides of the chassis of the cd player. This helped distribute some of the forces across the length of the plastic.

I remember having some problems also with the release assembly jamming too.

The DVD drive isn't very good. It's barely adequate to watch dvds with stuttering.

Most of the time since the laptop had a bad battery and the dvd wasn't very good was that I would remove the battery and the dvd drive to reduce weight.

If your laptop just sits there most of the time just run the laptop on your desk without either.

DVD's aren't used very much anymore I find, and the USB 1.1 is annoyingly slow.

My best recommendation would be to install a wireless G card. It's much faster than the usb port and even the dvd drive.

If I ever needed a dvd drive, I would network to the dvd drive of another computer. Even in this configuration, the performance was much better than the stock drive.