Question : Laptop seems to think there is media in the DVD-ROM drive

The machine seems to think there is media in the DVD-ROM drive and is continually trying to read it. I think this is the case as the green light on the DVD Drive itself keep flashing and the Windows pointer flicks to a CD image every 30 seconds or so.


The problems this is causing are:

•      The PC keeps momentarily pausing to read the non-existent media.
•      The PC will not boot unless the DVD-ROM drive is physically open because it keeps looking for the boot CD on the DVD drive.
•      The DVD drive will not open by selecting the “eject” option under My Computer or by pressing the eject button on the drive itself. The only way to open it is by sticking a paper clip in the hole on the drive  and physically pushing the override button.
•      iTunes will not run unless the DVD ROM drive is physically open.

Answer : Laptop seems to think there is media in the DVD-ROM drive

What version of Windows are you running and what make/model is your laptop? What is the model/make of your DVD drive?

It sounds a bit like a defective drive, you could try to upgrade the DVD drives firmware, but likely that won't help, if you have another DVD-drive handy switching the two units would be a clear indicator as to whether or not I'm right about the drive being defective.