Is there likely to be any cure for a DVD drive that ejects almost as soon as the tray goes in, almost always. I've had the drive for c. 15 years, it started playing up like this recently. Anything I can do, or just chuck it?
I managed to sort-of fix one with that problem, many years ago. Once I managed to get the drive opened up I found one tiny gear that was slightly cracked and not properly engaged with its spindle. With considerable good fortune, I managed to find exactly the right replacement gear from someone on an RC airplane forum – the brushless motors used in optical drives were apparently useful at the time for hobby projects, so it seems they disassembled drives regularly. The drive more or less worked properly again after that.
But I for one have stacks of old salvaged IDE DVD drives at this point, and considering the age of your unit, I would expect the optics would start failing eventually even if you could get it fixed. Time to move on.
Interesting story. I don't think I have the patience for that kind of thing any more. I have a few spares, and this one has been my main DVD drive since I got it so wear and tear is quite likely.
