Remove CD from CD reader?

[Dinosaur]

My CD reader refuses to open the tray.

Light flashes, but no other response to pushing release button.

My media player eject button does not cause tray to open.

I tried a paper clip in the emergency release hole, but that did not work.

I have shut the system down, restarted, and tried the above.

Before I try brute force, does anybody have a suggestion?

[pave_spectre]

Are you sure you pushed the paperclip in far enough and with enough force?

If you did then it sounds like taking it out of the case and pulling it apart may be your only option.
Unless its particularly unusual it should just require a screw-driver, most likely philips-head to be able to disassemble the CD-ROM.

Also fortunately CD-ROMs are cheap enough to replace these days.

[jabarnutcase]

Are you sure you pushed the paper clip in far enough and with enough force
Yes, and you need to feel around gently to be sure you're right on top the the release button...Some of them are very small and you are actually missing it with the paper clip. As pave_spectre mentioned too, some do require more force than you would think...You're actually "physically" pushing the tray out on some models.

(Forgive me if I was stating to obvious)
Does it act like it wants to open, but then "jams"? ie, can you hear the motor running? (Or just no activity whatsoever but the light?) I've seen Cd's left in trays while moving a Computer, that caused some problems because the CD shifted and locked everything up tight.

You might also check Device manager for the heck of it, if you haven't already, to see if it's supposedly "operating properly" driver wise- (And check cable connections etc.)

After all that....
Also fortunately CD-ROMs are cheap enough to replace these days ...And that may be the only good thing. (And the only solution too) :(

One last thing....Don't mind me, I'm just trying to sharpen up my typing skills a bit. :p

[Dinosaur]

Thanx for the advice. It seemed reasonable.

I will never really know the cause of the problem. I tried the paper clip a few times and decided to give up. Before turning the systme off and opening the case, I tried the eject button one more time. The tray opened.

My guess is a loose connection, so I opened the case and pushed all IDE connectors to make wure they made good connect.

No problems now.