[Ti] DVD don't spit at me...

[Chris Olson]

On Saturday, April 12, 2003, at 07:44 AM, Lisbeth Zachs wrote:
>
> I took a firm grip with my thumb on top of the pam rest and my 
> pointing finger at the bottom of the Ti, aiming as well as possible 
> for the center of the CD-reader. I heard a clear snap when something 
> sort of connected correctly (?:-)) and it has worked fine ever since. 
> I have been slightly more careful on how I grip the Ti-book at that 
> end, so not to twist it  in any way.  It has however been hauled along 
> in my backpack and on my bike for over two years now with no more 
> problems. (knock wood)

What I've found is that the drive motor fails to spool up.  The drive 
controller will attempt to initialize the drive 3 times, and if the 
motor fails to start, it will eject the disk.  The usual cause, as far 
as I can tell, is a long period of inactivity (you use the Ti, but 
don't use the CDROM/DVD drive).  I've "fixed" at least six of them 
owned by friends and myself (400's/500's) that were "stuck" using 
Lisbeth's method (sort of).  Immediately after the roller pulls the CD 
or DVD into the drive, and when it seats the disk on the spool, I 
smartly slap the computer, directly over the approximate center of the 
drive.  Almost without fail, the "stuck" drive will spool up and work.  
A couple of them took more than one attempt, but after they started 
working again they were OK as long as you used the drive at least once 
a week.
--
Chris