Problem with CD drive

I have the most recent drivers.

I have a Dell 1420 with the DVD-RW drive with Vista Premium 32bit.

I think there is something wrong with the latch in the drive but I am not sure and would like to know what I can do to fix it if I can.

Currently the drive takes for ever to open. I will press the button and it will not open. It ends up taking about 5 min of fiddling to open it. I will press the button on explorer but that does nothing. But when I slide (turn on the table) the laptop to the left (drive is on the right) it opens. I think it is catching on the ground and is opening it. The spring still works because once it opens it opens normally.

Another thing is that to get it to read a CD I will put it in and close it but I will not see the CD. I have to push on the drive for it to find the CD.

When a CD is spinning I let my wrist lay on the arm pad area and I can hear it grinding against the CD.

The drive does not sit flush with the body. The right side is farther in than the left side of the drive.

When I type faster and a little harder the CD drive opens (just did while typing this).

I am out of the 30 day warrenty and really do not want to spend money to fix this.

 

I think you will find that you actually have a 1 year warranty, as that seems to be the shortest offered by Dell. Give Dell a call, they can check your warranty status and help if you are still covered by it.

 

I will give it a shot. I really do not want to send in the laptop (I use it alot). But I will call.