dvd burner drive won't open

[Kalmah]

I got a virus about a week ago that made my dvd drive open and close randomly throughout the day. I found the virus and removed it.

Now when I push the open button on the drive it wont open. I can hear it make sounds like it's trying to.

I've taken a pin and opened it via that little hole on the front. Then when I push the button it closes just fine. But the light stays on for a very very long time. And the drive still wont open.

Ive tried:

1: Uninstall hardware in device manager, then a detect new hardware.

2:Shut down, unpluged drive from cable and power. Booted, shut back down, re-plugged drive in, and booted back up.

It detects and installs fine. No errors or warning on the drive in device manager. The computer says it's working fine. The door just will not open.

I'm going to open it with a pin right now, put a disc in and see if it reads it.. The light is staying on forever... Ok it shut off.

When I click on the drive in 'my computer' it says to please insert a disc even though there is one in there.

I don't know what else to do.

I'd appreciate it.


EDIT: I tried installing new drivers for it from the website. When the drivers are installing I get an error message that says "null", then the installation terminates.

 

[jackschmittusa]

First of all, you did not try to use the pin trick with the drive still powered up did you? This can physically damage the mechanism. What drivers? Are you talking about a firmware upgrade?

 

[Kalmah]

uh oh. Yeah I did it with the power on. I had no clue.

Yeah, the firmware is what I was talking about.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Kalmah]

hewlett packard are great. I just got a reply from them. They believe it is a hardware problem. And will replace it free of charge.

If anybody has any idea of a way to fix it anyways, please let me know. I'd rather just do that.

 

[Slikkster]

I'm not convinced this was due to the virus, unless the repeated openings/closings just wore out the mechanism. Sounds more like a Trojan than a virus, where someone was actually sending remote commands to open the tray, but that's neither here nor there.

I've had cdrom/dvd drives with tray opening problems. It's just cheapo plastic gear mechanisms inside. Easy to go bad. Best bet is just replace it.

On the other hand, you might want to run additional checks to make sure you're really clean. Have you ever tried "hijackthis.exe"? It's excellent at showing spyware and other malicious programs that may have a hold on your system.

You can run it and post the results, or PM me the results (cut/paste) and I can give you an opinion on anything to be wary of.


http://computercops.biz/zx/Merijn/hijackthis.zip

 

[Kalmah]

I've never used it before.

What I did do was run the online virus scan on the trend microsystems website. It found a trojan virus. It only found 1 instance of it on the machine. It was running as a background process, I stoped it, deleted it, emptied recyle bin then ran the virus scan again. It came up clean that time.

then I did a full system scan with adaware. Removed everything that it found. I rebooted my computer, expecting the dvd drive to work. But it wouldn't open.

When the virus was opening and closing the drive, it was doing it very violently. It would open half way and stop. Set for about a minute, close. Open again very quickly.. I pushed the button several times trying to figure out what was going on but it wasn't responding.

I ignored the problem for a couple days. Then found the virus and all that.

When I push the button to open it, I can hear the gears doing something inside. But very quietly.. no grinding or anything. The light doesn't turn on when I push the button like I think it should.

Windows reports no errors with the drive.

I'll give that program you suggested a try and post back here. It might not be until later tonight that I can post though. I have to leave here shortly.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

 

[Kalmah]

I ran that program that you suggested. There is not one thing in the list that I don't know what is. I really don't think it has found any problems. I appreciate it though.


Do dvd burners have any kind of bios like video cards have??? Is there something that could have been overwritten or changed by the virus that makes hitting the eject button not work?

The mechanism that opens and closes it seems like it's fine. When I open it with a pin in the hole in the front(with power off..) then turn the computer on it pulls itself closed without a problem.

I'm thinking about opening it up and seeing exactly what's it's doing. (with power plugged in, and it not being on the ide cable, the door should still try to open when hitting the button right?

But even if it is a mechanical problem, that doesn't explain why it doesn't read any discs.

arggh!! I'm loseing my head!

 

[Kalmah]

Bump. Anyone?

 

[imported_java]

DVD drives have firmware, it is similar to a BIOS in that that is what controls it. U could try updating that. It is Usually available from the manufacter website wiht installations instructions. XP makes it easy

 

[Kalmah]

Oh, that's what that is.

I guess I tried that allready. I get an error during installation. The error message says "Null" then the installation terminates when I click "ok".

I guess I'm just going to have to return it.

Thanks for your reply.