digitalFAQ.com Forum - Liteon 5005 failed - DVD tray won't open anymore

As per e-mail...

The reply:

Quote:

The motor in the DVD drive may be gummed up, or the internal plastics may have shifted just enough to block it from coming out. It's a mechanical issue of some kind. I'd dismantel the machine, and see if the DVD drive will eject with the top and face removed.

Follow-up e-mail:

Quote:

Thanks, I will re-disassemble it. Tried that already but had trouble
getting the front face plate off. Will try harder. How about the other one that just "fails" any ideas on that one?

Follow-up reply:

Quote:

The drive with the load fail probably has a drive that is mechanically sound, but the laser itself is either too dirty or dead. You can attempt to clean it. Don't use a "cleaner" device, take the drive apart. The drive may be dead, meaning it has to be replaced by another compatible drive. For these machines, you'll probably need an older LiteOn drive. Do you smoke? Optical electronics develop "lung cancer" and die very early. Optical electronics in the home of smokers have extremely limited lifespans.

And the requested "how to clean a DVD drive" image-based guide:

Attachment 21

Remove the drive from the computer, and unscrew the cover of the drive. Note that you may have to break the warranty seal (but seriously, who cares?).

Attachment 17

With the drive unscrewed, start to dismantle it by sliding the various pieces around, removing removal parts.

Attachment 18

Look for foreign matter, such as dust in the drive, which could be the entire cause of your problems. Computers are magnets for dust, and that includes your drive. A can of compressed air ("duster") may be good here, but be sure it does not spew liquid propellant. Hitting the laser eye with this liquid often kills it permanently, as the chemical tends to destroy the optical coatings. Cheap ones from OfficeMax tend to spew liquid, while better ones from Fry's and Microcenter do not.

Attachment 16

Get yourself some alcohol. It needs to be denatured alcohol, or at very least 70% or better (70-100%) isopropyl alcohol, commonly sold as "rubbing alcohol" in drugstores. Please watch for the isopropyl % as many of them are 50% or less, and you don't want those.

Attachment 20

Get a good non-cotton swab and lightly soak one end in the alcohol. The photo above is a Q-Tip, a "cotton swab" -- you DO NOT WANT THESE. Using a cotton swab could scratch or otherwise damage the eye. Non-cotton swabs are also often sold at the drug store, near cotton swabs. Electronics stores (Fry's and Microcenter, for example) usually have non-cotton cleaning swabs too. Don't let a salesman sell you their other cleaning products (mostly overpriced junk), however.

Attachment 19

Find the laser eye, and gently swipe the lens once or twice. If it does not dry instantly, you can turn the swab around and very gently swipe the lens dry once. Looking at the eye, there should be no residues on the majority of the lens starting from the center (optics often has build-up around the very edges, this doesn't matter as much, it's been there since manufacture most likely).

You're done. Put the drive back. If it works better, your cleaning helped. If this did not help, you have other issues. The drive may simply be dead.

Remember that optical electronics have limited lifespans, calculated in thousands of hours (a 4-digit number), sometimes less. The whole recorder is not dead, just the burner drive inside.