how do you trick the dvd drive?

**james438** · 03-09-2013, 07:47 PM

In particular I want to trick the dvd drive into thinking that there is a disc in the drive even if there is no disc in the drive. I really need to buy a new dvd drive at some point. At present it will only open if there is a disc in the drive. Other than that my dvd drive works great.

**djr33** · 03-09-2013, 08:13 PM

Other than that my dvd drive works great.

Haha, this distracted me from the rest of the post. (On my old desktop I have a drive that "works great" too, except that I had to chop off the top of the tray to make it fit when I replaced the old broken drive myself-- but it really does work well now.)

I wonder if that might cause more problems than it would solve. Your computer would be looking for a disc the whole time.

Is this a laptop or desktop? Can you just use a paperclip to open it? A little annoying, but it works every time.

I'd suggest looking into alternative ways to send the command to open the drive. It might be an OS level problem, so if you can just send the command (without it checking whether there's a disc), that would work. Maybe a small batch file? I'm not sure how that would work exactly though.

**keyboard** · 03-09-2013, 10:45 PM

I think he tried using a file to make it open last time this was brought up. Still had the same effect.
By that token, I don't think that making it think there's a cd in there when there isn't would be a good thing... it could cause other issues.

If you're willing, try this .exe I made (:\) and see if it opens. I'll understand if you don't want to though. It basicly just makes the computer open the cddrive... But it might work better than what you tried last time.
_cddrive.zip

**james438** · 03-10-2013, 08:10 AM

I have a desktop computer and use Windows XP SP3. The issue persists even after a reformatting of my hard drive and reinstalling XP. The drivers are all up to date as well.

Keyboard1333, I did try the file you suggested, but it did not work, I suspect it is because I am using XP. The error message is that I do not have .NET framework 4.x installed.

I did post about this a couple of times before and those threads did produce some good results, but I feel like I my DVD player is becoming more intelligent in its fight against me and so I am looking into other better methods to hack my DVD player.

I just got back from work and I am pretty tired. Tomorrow I want to give a more thorough explanation of what I have tried and why I am posting about this again. In short, it might be best to just leave a disc in my DVD drive. There are actually several ways to go about opening a DVD drive. I wish the paper clip idea worked, but, sadly, mine is designed so that a sharp knife couldn't pry it open let alone a screwdriver or paper clip. I don't mind putting up with it till I get a new computer or DVD drive. I am a bit concerned that it will shut down sometime completely before then.

**traq** · 03-10-2013, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by james438

Other than that ... works great.

hehehe... I have an older laptop; same problem with the DVD drive. And the screen hinge is broken. And the hard drive is toast. Other than that ...works great

**djr33** · 03-10-2013, 08:59 AM

Assuming the DVD drive really is broken (and it's not a software issue or something with your motherboard or whatever), then you could consider replacing it. It's very easy for a desktop, and you could get a cheap DVD drive (I dunno... maybe $30?) or a blu-ray drive for something like $100 I'm guessing. That should then have all the sensors working again.

Might be the simplest solution. That is, of course, assuming you plan to use/keep this computer for a while.

**traq** · 03-10-2013, 08:18 PM

You can get a decent external drive for around $40 - $50, too.

**keyboard** · 03-10-2013, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by james438

I have a desktop computer and use Windows XP SP3. The issue persists even after a reformatting of my hard drive and reinstalling XP. The drivers are all up to date as well.

Then it's a hardware issue. Whether getting a new drive would fix it is another question.

Originally Posted by james438

Keyboard1333, I did try the file you suggested, but it did not work, I suspect it is because I am using XP. The error message is that I do not have .NET framework 4.x installed.

That'd be a minor issue, yeah

Originally Posted by james438

I did post about this a couple of times before and those threads did produce some good results, but I feel like I my DVD player is becoming more intelligent in its fight against me and so I am looking into other better methods to hack my DVD player.

What's it doing now that it wasn't doing before?

**Beverleyh** · 03-10-2013, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by traq

You can get a decent external drive for around $40 - $50, too.

That's what I've done - this very morning in fact

Stupid laptop drive's been clunking and grinding for weeks so I finally allowed myself to be seduced by something pretty on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Ultr.../dp/B0080K4K76 (slinky, slinky)

**james438** · 03-10-2013, 11:00 PM

That DVD drive does look nice Beverly

It just seems that my current methods for opening the drive are working less and less often. After reading your posts I think that I am just putting too much effort into this and will buy a DVD drive after I get my next paycheck.