cd rom drawer broken- can you help?

[patsy]

Hi,
I have a hp pavillion computer. The cd rom drawer was not shutting and so my dear husband, becoming impatient, forced it shut. Now it's staying open. I notice there is a little rubberband-like belt that is hanging out of the drawer. I'm thinking if I knew where to connect it, it might work again. Any ideas on this? :confused:

[pangea33]

Is the entire platter sticking out, or is the door covering the platter hanging open? If the platter won't close, I suspect that the teeth are out of alignment with the gear, like can happen with zippers. If it was closed with *emotion* this is easy to do. I've seen one with these symptoms fixed by poking a paperclip in the little "release" button hole, pulling the drawer all the way out, and then pushing it back in. This should be done with the power off.

If the cover of the door is hanging open but everything else works fine, I would just use it until it gives up on you. If its really that big of a deal, or if the drive is now broken, you can get a 52x burner for around $20. At a price like that, it might be worth the $20 even if there is nothing wrong with your current drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106976

[patsy]

HI Pagea33,
Thanks for the reply. In the meantime, my dear husband and 12 year old daughter tried to fix the drive. Now I know it is broke for sure. They have tried to remove the drive with no luck. They have taken out all the screws and thought the drive would just slide out but it doesn't. Anyone know where we can find directions for this? I have given them directions for installing a new drive and thought they could just work backwords but no luck.

[pangea33]

Just trying to see if I can sum up here. Are you saying that they have disassembled some of the computer, and are unable to get the drive out of the case? I'll try not to make any comments about hastily tearing into a piece of electronics, because I have been prone to zealous behavior myself. :D

I had a pavilion in the past, and can't recall the model, but hopefully can offer a suggestion. As I recall, the case was opened by holding the front face and wiggling it out of the rest of the computer body. The drives were all attached and could be removed once the case had been pulled apart. There are most likely plastic tabs holding some of this in place, so disassembly should be done carefully.

I'll see if some searching turns up anything, but its been a number of years since I had this machine. Not sure if HP's site will still have manuals for older machines. Can you give a little more info, such as the model number on the computer, or details about the processor?

[pangea33]

I found the manual for my old machine; it was an 8370. You might be able to find some more info at this link:

http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Nav?h_pagetype=s-001&h_lang=en&h_cc=us&h_product=12455&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&cc=us

[Sylvander]

Which model of HP Pavilion is it?
See http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

[patsy]

Thank you Pangea32 and Sylvander. I was able to go to the link you provided and search the info on my model of Hp Pavilion (which is a 8562). Right there they had the directions and pictures of how to replace a CD-drive! I guess I was making it harder than it was by searching all over the web. Didn't realize HP would make it this easy for us. So glad I found this group and I appreciate both of you for helping me.

[Sylvander]

Is this it here?
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?dlc=en&lc=en&product=60386&lang=en&cc=us&docname=bph07164

Hewlett Packard are particularly good at giving this sort of clear information.
I bought a HP CD-RW and the CD that came with it included an installation video. :)