In my experience that's almost always a failing belt (rubber band) on the drive eject mechanism.

Yes, very common problem. When in storage for a very long time, the belt gets stuck in its streched position (you'll see it's no longer round when removing it) and slips over the wheel that should drive it. Sometimes the tray may still manage to open, but not reliable until you replace the belt.

You can also cook the belt in hot water, which will get it working if it's not too far deteriorated.

It's the same problem old tape decks have. Repaired my Xbox drive tray and my old Hitachi boombox with that method! 👍

Yes, the tray always becomes unusable after a few years. The reliable drives don't use rubber belts but have the motor directly driving the tray, but these don't appear to be made any longer. Everything in the contemporary IT world is designed to last precisely 3 years.

schmatzler wrote on 2020-05-17, 11:41:

You can also cook the belt in hot water, which will get it working if it's not too far deteriorated.

That's what I do most of the time as well. But it's no permanent fix. You eventually have to replace the belt by a new one.

I did encounter this problem with a Plextor Premium CD-R drive, though this model does not employ a belt (IIRC). In this particular case, either the rubber ring on the disc spindle motor or its counterpart that fastens the disc from above (don't remember exactly which one) got sticky over time. Since both parts are pressed together when the tray is closed, they neatly stuck fast, and the tray motor did not have enough power to separate them.

Cleaning the spindle and its counterpart (whatever it may be called) fixed the problem, at least for the time being.

I am having that issue with a sony IDE dvd-rw drive, however that one does not have driving belt, just a few gears that transmit the movement from the motor to the tray. It will open halfway (a bit beyond where the center of the disc should be) but I have to open it manually completely, else it closes again after a few seconds. The strange part is that it closes fine, which IMO should require greater force, but whatever. I bought some lithium grease and applied to the moving parts, but it seems to make no difference. Any hints would be appreciated.

Maybe the motor that drives the mechanism is seized up. Applying a bit of oil to its bearings might make it work again.

DenizOezmen wrote on 2020-05-17, 15:57:

I did encounter this problem with a Plextor Premium CD-R drive, though this model does not employ a belt (IIRC). In this particular case, either the rubber ring on the disc spindle motor or its counterpart that fastens the disc from above (don't remember exactly which one) got sticky over time.

"this problem" was about the tray not opening, so your problem is completely different.

schmatzler wrote on 2020-05-17, 16:04:

Maybe the motor that drives the mechanism is seized up. Applying a bit of oil to its bearings might make it work again.

Thanks for the hint, I'll try it. Is sewing machine oil OK?

derSammler wrote on 2020-05-17, 16:05:

DenizOezmen wrote on 2020-05-17, 15:57:

I did encounter this problem with a Plextor Premium CD-R drive, though this model does not employ a belt (IIRC). In this particular case, either the rubber ring on the disc spindle motor or its counterpart that fastens the disc from above (don't remember exactly which one) got sticky over time.

"this problem" was about the tray not opening, so your problem is completely different.

No, it isn't, please read my post carefully. While opening the tray, the tray motor has to separate the parts of the spindle fastening mechanism. If those are stuck, the tray does not open. All you hear is a grinding noise while the motor tries hard to push the tray out.

The original Xbox was kind of infamous for this problem (along with other problems with the DVD drive), and there are lots of tutorials on how to replace the rubber band. I've done it myself on a few Xbox drives. I imagine that there's not a lot of difference between the kind of drives it used (three or four different manufacturers) and your drives.

In most of the cases I solve the problem by cleaning the belt and pulleys with a strong degreaser such as 99% IPA or Sanitec DEINK.
I think, in time, oils from whatever grease they used for the mechanism find their way to the belt, and together with the belt wear and tear they are causing it to slip.

Of course this works if the belt isn't too damaged, and it's always best to replace it if possible, but pulleys should be cleaned anyway.

I had a drive at one point in which one of the tiny plastic gears cracked. Someone suggested I ask on an RC airplane forum about a replacement, as it was popular in some circles to disassemble old drives for the the brushless motors found within. Not sure if that's the case anymore.

Thanks for all the replies. After searching I do see some info online about replacing the belt with a plumbing o-ring so if that works I'll be able to revive this drive and perhaps some others I have.

It seems like drives used to be more reliable, but I suspect it's a combination of two things: (1) that was a lot longer ago than it seems; this machine is 16 years old so the drive is quite old, (2) drives got opened/closed at least once a week or so back then so the belt saw more use.

I've never opened up a drive before so wish me luck.

I've got another (monitor) hardware problem I guess I'll post on now!

Thanks

If only I could figure out why all of my drives need me to hit the top of the computer to open

Sluggish, jams, etc is dirty or sticky gears, grease got thickened. Correct lube for these is lithium grease. I fixed original xbox tray issues by cleaning the gears mechanism and new lube. The rack gear slider and gear is ones that catch all the dirt and cakes into teeth, made tray to operate badly.

Motor failing, Very common motor to replace easily.

Rubber belt tend to slip than breaking. If breaking, it is usually caused by environment. One owner had group of optical drives failing in their chemistry lab was broken belts, easily fixed.

Cheers,

Thanks everyone. I just got an eBay drive that wouldn't open. Unfortunately, I didn't test whether it could read CDs otherwise prior to working on the belt... I did the degrease + hot water trick to the belt on the drive and it now opens and closes on its own. However, when I put a disc in, it doesn't seem to spin the disc. If I put one in at an obvious position and eject it, it is obvious it is in the same place.

The drive doesn't seem noisy enough that it's even attempting to spin. There are some quiet sounds but they could be the lens moving, or perhaps the motor unsuccessfully trying to spin.

This is a different issue than the belt, right? Unless I broke something while I had it opened up.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2020-05-18, 04:22:

Thanks everyone. I just got an eBay drive that wouldn't open. Unfortunately, I didn't test whether it could read CDs otherwise prior to working on the belt... I did the degrease + hot water trick to the belt on the drive and it now opens and closes on its own. However, when I put a disc in, it doesn't seem to spin the disc. If I put one in at an obvious position and eject it, it is obvious it is in the same place.

The drive doesn't seem noisy enough that it's even attempting to spin. There are some quiet sounds but they could be the lens moving, or perhaps the motor unsuccessfully trying to spin.

This is a different issue than the belt, right? Unless I broke something while I had it opened up.

Could still be the belt slipping allowing it to open close the tray but not to fully load the mechanism (raising the laser spindle assembly into position). Try operating the mechanism manually or slamming the tray shut with some enthusiasm in the hope that the inertia completes the loading movement.