cd opening and closing at seeming random 1

[mrburke]

I have 2 cd drives on my hp system running win98se. My Yamaha cd-r tray is opening and/or closing without warning or my command and its driving me nuts.

Is it a virus maybe?
If I remove the device from my system, will win98se refind it again?
Would re-installing windoze help?

 

[drcard]

I seen this before and never found the cause or specific fix. The system was reformatted and reinstalled and it never occurred again. On that system there was only 1 CD-ROM and it appeared to be related to input (any mouse or keyboard entry).

HTH, Dana)

 

[WheeDoggy]

Maybe a virus but sounds like one of those "joke" apps.

Is there anyone else using your PC?

 

[mot98]

Check your PC for any file called *Beer.exe*..It is a joke app that opens your cd-rom. mot98


"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

I've just been working on a PC with almost identical problems.

I did all the usual checks that the two CD devices were set up correctly, master and slave on secondary IDE, jumpers were correct. I even tried them both on CS (cable select) and reversed them so that CDRW and CDROM changed virtual positions in the pecking order - no joy.

Eventually, I took the CDROM out and ran with CDRW only and told the operator that "burning on the fly" makes plenty of frisbees when both CD devices share an IDE and putting a CD device with a HDD will slow it down to CD speed. The problem ceased but then suddenly the CDRW would not work at all. I booted to safe mode and found four different drivers for the CDRW. I left just the proper one and rebooted and all is still well (fingers crossed).

I loathe CD devices for their quirkyness and only ever recommend having just the one on any system. Regards
Phil
A friend will help you move.
A REAL friend will help you move a body!

 

[mainegeek]

Hello Mrburke,
I have seen this before as well. I determined it to be a defective drive and tossed it on the "junk pile". I tested
it in an empty case, by itself, with/with out data cable
attached and it still did it. I figured the board in it went bad as it appeared to be power related or faulty close switch. The tray would open and close "continously" as soon as it got power or a few minutes there after.

 

[Ladygnome]

Hmm, haven't seen this problem myself. I would attempt to uninstall and reinstall the drivers. Maybe there is a patch or something specific on the manufacturer web site.
For sure, if you just bought it, return it if under warranty. Could also be something in your start-up is loading it to open (virus or not), try removing anything cd related from your start-up files.

Have another question about CD Drives if anyone can help:

What is the problem when one sticks and sometimes does not open? Is it just worn out or is there something I can do?

Thanks!

 

[edfair]

LG,
Does it fail to open when you eject from my computers?
You could have a bad board or a bad switch. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[ModelTrains]

I had a similar problem with the CD-ROM drive opening/closing with a mind of it's own. This was several years ago with a different employer, but the problem was with the Acer(tm) brand CD-ROMs. They were replaced under warranttee, but Acer promoted these drives with a "manual pullout feature in case of power failure." I realized there was a reason they included a drawer front with a curve to allow you to force-pull the drawer out! The replacement models did not have the "feature" or the open/close problem.

 

[hotfusion]

If Mot98's suggestion doesn't work, look in your startup folder for any program or shortcut that shouldn't be there, as there are a few other joke programs floating about that do almost the same thing as 'beer.exe' - and the startup folder is where they'll live.
If you solve your problem this way, have a little word with your prime suspect..... My suggestions are what I would try myself. If incorrect, I welcome corrections to my rather limited knowledge. Andy.

 

[mrburke]

I checked, and there was no "beer.exe" on my system, but when I followed Andy's advice and looked in the startup folder, there was a program pointer I didn't recognize called "GSTARTUP.EXE" that linked to something in the program file folder called "Gmt.exe". So, just in case it was important, I just moved the shortcut to a new folder called "safety" and re-booted. Anybody ever heard of this? Removing it didn't seem to afect anything.

 

[thatrenowned]

Have you got any spare computers available to you?

I'd put the CDROM in another computer and see if it does the same thing. If it does, its a hardware issue. If not, its most likely a software issue (could still be hardware as some other component could be causing it to do this).

I'd do the obvious like run an up to date virus scan and check the CDROM drive for any visible damage.

Regards

 

[mot98]

If I remember correctly "gstartup.exe" and "gmt.exe" are programs related to Gator.

I would suggest downloading "Ad-Aware" and running it on your system to remove all spyware.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

This probably is not causing your cd-rom problem, but you should get rid of them all anyways.

mot98


"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)