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Why won't my optical disc drive eject?

I bought this computer from a friend, and have been told that it was upgraded by a local computer shop. When powered on, the eject button does not illuminate; not sure if this is an indication of the root issue. When pressed, there is (even when powered off) a soft clicking sound, but no other noise of an ejection mechanism working. I can pull the cover down to see the face of the actual drive, but there is no visible hole for manually ejecting the drive. I have opened the case, and tried to pull the drive out, but have so far been unsuccessful. Please see attached photos for reference. Thanks for fighting for our right to do things for ourselves!

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Since you don't hear the drive even "try" to eject, the problem could simply be the front panel of the case. That big eject button in the images simply pushes on the drive's built-in button when pressed. This "soft clicking" sound you describe may indicate that the button is broken.

You should remove the drive from its caddy and try to eject the disk by pressing on the actual button of the drive unit, which is most likely still fine. If you can't remove it from inside the case, you should be able to remove the front panel of the case. There is usually a large gap at the bottom, large enough to grab firmly and pull out (might require some force).

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Thanks for the helpful information! I was able to get the front cover off (with a little "persuasion") and get the drive out of the case. There is only one plug in the back of the drive (it's shown in the pictures in my original question) which makes me wonder how it's powered, as it plugs into the motherboard...? Anyway, I was able to get a paperclip into the manual eject slot to verify that there is nothing physically preventing the drive door from ejecting. Back into the case, plugged everything back up (leaving the front facia off, for now) and still nothing responding on the Optical Media, and I don't see it on my Device Manager. If you (or anyone else) has any more advice to give from this point, I'd be very grateful!

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Oh shoot, I didn’t notice that in the image! Its power cable isn’t plugged in. SATA devices have 2 Γ shaped slots. The short one is for data (connects to the motherboard), the long one is for power (such a cable comes from the power supply).

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Hi @yttam

Here's the hardware maintenance manual for the PC series that may help. See p.31→p.32 for how to remove/replace the dvd drive.

Since the drive is not appearing in Device Manager, if you have a DMM (digital multimeter) verify that there's both +5V DC (red wire) and +12V DC (yellow wire) on the power cable connected to the DVD drive.

If the power is OK try using one of the other sata ports (there are 3 sata ports) on the motherboard and check if it now powers up and is detected.

If no good, try another sata cable and also check if all the sata ports are enabled in BIOS.

If still no good it may be a faulty dvd drive.

The part number on the drive is 71Y5545. Search online for the part number to find suppliers that suit you best.

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