[CUBE] It arrived! plus please help :)

[Bill Wong]

On 1/6/03 11:03 PM, "Michael Longo" <mliii at mac.com> wrote:

> 
> On Monday, January 6, 2003, at 07:52  PM, mcph at olemiss.edu wrote:
> 
>> It goes in with very little friction
>> about 1/2 way then stops.
> 
> OK, first, D-E-E-P breath...
> when you say '1/2 way', have you tried the obvious, that is, pushing
> down on the CD once it is in 1/2 way to see if it will engage the motor
> and fully load?
> If so, (and that doesn't work)  have you tried to see if there is a cd
> in the drive? Restart and hold (& Keep holding) the mouse key down
> while restarting the Cube. If there is a cd/dvd in there (assuming it
> is standard size) it will eject.
> Let's start with that and move forward slowly from there...
> 
I had this happen to my slot load DVD and a CDRW drive before. Basically,
you have to remove the drive from the cube, open the cover of the drive (two
small screws on the sides, and then look at the mechanism, make sure there
are no foreign objects or problems with the mechanism. Once I found a dime
in the drive. The other times, the plastic parts of the drive were out of
alignment. Specifically, it seems the centre spindle that latches on to the
CD with a magnet can easily dislodge. Especially with repeated forceful
attempts to push a CD in. By tinkering, for lack of a better term, I was
able to fix the drives, and they have been working since. Sometimes, through
shipping or mishandling, they can get "diskombobulated" <sp?>. Surprisingly,
they were easy to fix. The first time I did this, I assumed the drive was
toast and decided I couldn't make it worse. I fixed three drives this way.

A techie friend may be able to look at it for you, or bring it to a service
dealer. You can buy DVD slot drives for under $50 these days. When my CDRW
drive malfunctioned, I was looking at $180 to replace it. Luckily, I was
able to fix it.

bill