This might sound weird...

[wutdafeezi]

Heres the situation my cd-rom it doesn't open up. It'll just sound like its about to open then it just closes back and starts to read the cd. Ok thats not even the real problem here it is. I got the cd out after pressing that eject button so many times. But when I took out my gtr2 cd in the middle where theres no data. The clear portion on the underside it has a sticky ring of goo on it! Anyone know whats the deal? I put in a blank cd and it struggled to open as if it was sticking to something.

[BlaRo]

Customer: "I got this problem. You people sent me this
install disk, and now my A: drive won't work."

Tech Support: "Your A drive won't work?"

Customer: "That's what I said. You sent me a bad disk,
it got stuck in my drive, now it won't work at all."

Tech Support: "Did it not install properly? What kind
of error messages did you get?"

Customer: "I didn't get any error message. The disk
got stuck in the drive and wouldn't come out. So I got
these pliers and tried to get it out. That didn't work
either."

Tech Support: "You did what sir?"

Customer: "I got these pliers, and tried to get the
disk out, but it wouldn't budge. I just ended up cracking
the plastic stuff a bit."

Tech Support: "I don't understand sir, did you push
the eject button?"

Customer: "No, so then I got a stick of butter and melted
it and used a turkey baster and put the butter in the
drive, around the disk, and that got it loose. Then
I used the pliers and it came out fine. I can't believe
you would send me a disk that was broke and defective."

Tech Support: "Let me get this clear. You put melted
butter in your A: drive and used pliers to pull the
disk out?" At this point, I put the call on the speaker
phone and motioned at the other techs to listen in.

Tech Support: "Just so I am absolutely clear on this,
can you repeat what you just said?"

Customer: "I said I put butter in my A: drive to get
your crappy disk out, then I had to use pliers to pull
it out."

Tech Support: "Did you push that little button that
was sticking out when the disk was in the drive, you
know, the thing called the disk eject button?" Silence.

Tech Support: "Sir?"

Customer: "Yes."

Tech Support: "Sir, did you push the eject button?"

Customer: "No, but you people are going to fix my
computer, or I am going to sue you for breaking my computer?"

Tech Support: "Let me get this straight. You are going
to sue our company because you put the disk in the
A: drive, didn't follow the instructions we sent you,
didn't actually seek professional advice, didn't consult
your user's manual on how to use your computer properly,
instead proceeding to pour butter into the drive and
physically rip the disk out?"

Customer: "Ummmm."

Tech Support: "Do you really think you stand a chance,
since we do record every call and have it on tape?"

Customer: (now rather humbled) "But you're supposed
to help!"

Tech Support: "I am sorry sir, but there is nothing
we can do for you. Have a nice day."

I got nothing to help you with, unfortunately. It just reminded me of that classic tech support story.

[eddysdaman]

Put any gum in there by any chance? Do you have any arch nemesis' who might have?

Strange, the goo is most likely the lubricant to make all the moving parts move nicely, though I don't understand how that got spat up onto the CD, as far as the CD bay opening/closing all the time, could be faulty, could be a driver (my best bet) or could be that arch nemesis thing again.

[lokie_538]

i have no idea whats happened there, but if your cd gets stuck again, there should be a little hole somewhere on the front, just bend out a paper clip and push it in there and your tray should pop open even if the computers off

[epp_b]

Perhaps some sort of lubricant in the CD-ROM drive got loose and crapped up the disc. I would say that it's probably not worth troubleshooting. Optical drives are cheap these days, just chuck this one out and buy a new one.

BlaRo, great story, that's gold! Reminds me of another one. Not a direct quote, but it went something like this...

Customer: My computer doesn't work
Tech: What does it do?
Customer: It won't go on
Tech: OK, so what happens when you turn it on?
Customer: How do I do that?
Tech: See that button in the middle of the box, near the bottom?
Customer: Yeah...
Tech: Press it
Customer: OK .... nothing happened.
Tech: OK, is it plugged in?
Customer: of course it is, do you think I'm stupid?
Tech: No, sir, I'm just checking all of the possibilities. Can you please double-check?
Customer: Well, no, it's too dark back there
Tech: Well, can you turn a light on?
Customer: Uh, no.
Tech: What?
Customer: The power is out right now
.... pause ....
Tech: OK, sir, I think we've found the problem. You will need to disconnect your computer, put it back in the box and return to where you bought it from
Customer: Oh, it's that bad?
Tech: No, sir, you are too dumb to own a computer.