DVD stuck in m1530

Hi,

So I've had my Dell m1530 for a few years now, so, obviously, there is no warranty left.

For the last couple months when I turned on my laptop it would make about 4 clicking noises. It did this as soon as I turned it on, every time. I wasn't sure what it was. Today, I went to burn a DVD. I put it in the drive, and it made a loud, strange ticking noise for about 10 seconds. If I try to eject this DVD, it makes the same ticking noises and doesn't eject.

I found that if I press down on the keyboard where the DVD drive is located after I press the eject button, it will stop trying to eject the disk, and will instead start reading from it. The disk will then be recognized in Windows Explorer.

Anyway, I can't get this DVD out, but the drive isn't 100 percent dead, or else it wouldn't read from the DVD when I press down on it while pressing the eject button, right?

 

Sounds like something is loose.

To take the DVD out, you will need to open up your machine (one of the drawbacks of slot loading drives). You manual should have an exact procedure to do that, so you should follow its steps.

Make sure that your machine if unplugged and the battery is taken out before opening it.

 

Also, if the slot is anything like XPS 1645 it's a bit of a pain - I had to do this recently.

Once you get the slot out (up to this point it's easy enough... few screws here and there) - the DVD is locked in there. You'll need to force the top cover up slightly so you can then use tweezers to lift the DVD up and pull it - making sure that you've pulled the little tab that's inside to the side so it doesn't block it also.

Next time you reboot, it makes little more noise than usual as it's finding there's no disk anymore but then it's all roses afterwards.

I couldn't find any emergency button to press to get it out.. that's not to say you don't have one. Good luck.