DVD « Tech – for Everyone

How To Remove A Stuck CD (and a software giveaway)

Troubleshooting a slot drive

I still fiddle with my iMac, and the other day I came across a problem which has spawned today’s “how to” topic — namely, the DVD I was had been watching would not eject out of the ‘slot’. And, the iMac doesn’t have the paperclip hole to forcibly eject a disc from the “superdrive”.

image source: bindapple

The official Apple methods for getting a disc to eject go like this:

Press and hold the Eject key on your keyboard.
Right-click (control-click) on the disks icon on the Desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu
Drag the disks icon to the Trash bin within the Dock
Select the disc’s icon and hit “Command-E”

More advanced Mac stuck disk eject methods

Launch Disk Utility and select the CD/DVD from the sidebar. Click the Eject icon at the top of the Disk Utility screen.
Launch the Terminal and type following command: drutil eject, and hit the Return key.
If those fail, try restarting your Mac and hold down the mouse button (or trackpad button if you have a laptop) as the system “boots”. Keep holding it down until the system fully restarts (or the disc pops out, whichever comes first).

None of those worked for me, so I had to resort to a manual method. The first thing to try is to tip the machine so the disc drive is vertical to the horizon (slot down), so that gravity can assist, while trying one of the eject methods above.. maybe giving a little shake as well. Hopefully, your disc will “fall out”.

Gravity (and shaking) didn’t help me, so it was time to reach in there with something. Tempting though it is, tweezers are not the tool of choice (as they can/will scratch the disc). I used a stiff business card (though a credit card can work too) with a length of double-sided tape pressed on. Insert the card at the “top” (long side closest to the screen/disc’s ‘label side’) of the slot, with the sticky tape toward the back of the machine (the bottom of the disc drive) and then “fish” the disc out by a slight to-the-back (away)-and-out motion.

If it simply will not come out (even with tweezers), you probably will require disassembly, and probably will need to visit a tech.

Software giveaway: I noticed a decent limited-time software giveaway on BitsDuJour.. which seems to be experiencing some technical difficulties, but you may want to sign up anywho.

Wise Care 365 PRO for PC – Coming Soon

100% Off
$54.00
= $0

“Wise Care 365 PRO is a comprehensive PC tune-up utility that promises to keep your Windows PC secure and running at peak performance.” more

Unrelated: where did this week go?

“From the way you sit in your chair to the color of your tie, nonverbal communication can have a big impact on your professional life. Here’s some advice.” Read more..

Looking back..: Junk mail looks just like it did back in 1997.. doesn’t it?

Because, why change a good thing, right?

Today’s quote: “We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives.” ~ Lewis Thomas

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

September 5, 2013 Posted by techpaul | advice, computers, free software, hardware, how to, performance, tech, troubleshooting | cd, DVD, eject, giveaway, how to, no paperclip hole, remove, slot, stuck, Wise Care 365 PRO | Leave a comment

CD drive won’t read discs

Folks, here is a question I received that I think is of ‘general benefit’ to all to know.

Q: Hi Tech Paul.
The disc player in my Dell Optiplex has started to ignore cds and dvds that I burned myself but still can play those that I purchased or rent. What’s going on? Do I need a new codec?

A: Dear Reader,
No, you do not need a new “codec“. I suspect that your “reading” trouble is due simply to dust/dirt on the laser’s lens. Blowing on it with compressed air (such as from a can of the venerable Dust Off) should resolve your problem. (If you cannot see the little lens unit, open the tray, and blow around in there as best you can.)

* * *

Today’s quote: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ~ Isaac Asimov

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

August 27, 2013 Posted by techpaul | advice, computers, hardware, how to, PC, performance, tech, troubleshooting | can't see, cd, disc, doesn't recognize, DVD, how to, player, won't play | 4 Comments

Video Tutorial – How to create a DVD slideshow (and more)

If you have photographs you would like to share with friends and family, one of the nicest ways to do that is to create a slideshow, and then “burn” that slideshow to disc. There are easy ways to create cool, “Ken Burns” style slideshows, add music to it, etc., and today I have a Microsoft video tutorial for how to do that using Windows Movie Maker.

Also, friend and fellow tech blogger Rick Robinette posted a(nother) good article today: A Nice Google Chrome Extension to Convert Any Video from YouTube to High Quality MP4, FLV or MP3 for FREE

“One of the rewards to maintaining a tech blog that has a strong emphasis toward reviewing (and testing) FREE software, is when a reader contacts you and points you in the direction of something that is good. The reader in this case, as a result of reading the past article, “Keep An Eye On This […]” Read more..

Folks.. a little non-tech for a moment, if you’ll humor me..
Yesterday, when I was out and about, tackling life’s To Do’s, I witnessed – hang on to your seat – a person stop what they were doing, and go over, and lend a hand to a stranger. (The details are unimportant, and it only took them under two minutes..) And I realized it had been too long since I had performed a “random act of kindness”.. I plan to rectify that mucho muy mas pronto.

Today’s quote: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke

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January 24, 2012 Posted by techpaul | advice, computers, how to | DVD, how to, movie maker, photos, pictures, share, slideshow, tutorial, video | 8 Comments

Restore A Missing CD Drive*

“Reader writes and asks for help with The Case of the Missing Device…”

Sometimes Windows “Loses” The CD Player..

Q: “Paul I need your help. Yesterday I put a CD in my computer nothing happened. It has been working fine, and usually it will just start playing the first song. I put in a different disk and again nothing. I opened My computer and there was no icon for the DVD. Just icons for the Floppy A:, Local disk (C) and no CD player. It just vanished! I rebooted and that didn’t help. What happened? How do I get my CD player back?”

A: The exact steps required will depend on the cause of the issue, so the following answers are ‘generic’, and may not apply to your particular situation. Read through the list to find the appropriate one for you.

1) Windows XP (and older) have a reputation for “losing” optical drives (but I have seen it occur in Vista) after uninstalling disc burning software — such as Roxio or Nero. (Sometimes.. after installing; but usually it is an uninstall failing to work properly, which leaves incorrect values in your Registry. Sometimes, though less frequently, a Windows Update, or other software change can cause this as well.)

Sometimes Microsoft gets it right:
If this is you — you have uninstalled Roxio, say — the solution is to visit Microsoft Help & Support and click the “Fix It” button. (I have written about using the built in troubleshooter before, see Microsoft “One-click” Fixes) The appropriate Fix it page/button is found here. One click should do it!

———————————

2) If that doesn’t resolve the issue, you can next try restoring your system to a prior (working) state by using System Restore. Please read How To Use System Restore To Fix Windows for instructions.

3) If that doesn’t help, or isn’t appropriate..
Open your computer’s case and check to make sure the power wires, and the ribbon cable are firmly connected to the back of the drive and to the motherboard — they may have become loose or disconnected.

No? Then open your Device Manager. Right-click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. In Vista, click on Device Manager in the left column; in XP, click on the “Hardware” tab, and then click the “Device Manager” button.

In Device Manager, find “Optical drives” on the list, and expand the category by clicking once on the “+” sign. You should now see the device and a yellow triangle – which is telling you there’s an error.

Right click on the device’s name, and click “Uninstall” from the menu which opens. Answer “Yes”, you want to do that. Then restart (aka “reboot”) your machine. Windows should “find” a “new” CD-ROM and install it for you, thus restoring functionality.

4) If these steps fail, there is something else going on (maybe malware) and I recommend you contact a knowledgeable repair tech.. such as myself (shameless plug).

Today’s free link: KidsEmail.org. Along with ZooBah, something to consider when your child wants their own e-mail address.

Today’s free download: GOM Player is a free multimedia player with popular video and audio codecs built-in. GOM Player supports file formats such as AVI, DAT, MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV, ASF. Users don’t have to install codecs separately. GOM Player is capable of playing incomplete or damaged AVI files by skipping the damaged frames. It can also play locked or partially downloaded files.

* Orig post: 5/4/09

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June 14, 2011 Posted by techpaul | advice, computers, hardware, how to, Microsoft, PC, performance, tech, troubleshooting | advice, cd, cd-rom, computer, device, disc, disc drive, DVD, how to, manage, missing, optical drive, PC, repair, restore, techpaul, Windows | 4 Comments

How To Restore A Missing Optical Drive*

Reader writes and asks for help with “The Case of the Missing Device”.

Sometimes Windows “Loses” The CD Player..

Q: “Paul I need your help. Yesterday I put a CD in my computer nothing happened. It has been working fine, and usually it will just start playing the first song. I put in a different disk and again nothing. I opened My computer and there was no icon for the DVD. Just icons for the Floppy A:, Local disk and no CD player. It just vanished! I rebooted and that didn’t help. What happened? How do I get my CD player back?”

A: The exact steps required will depend on the cause of the issue, so the following answers are ‘generic’, and may not apply to your particular situation. Read through the list to find the appropriate one for you.

1) Windows XP (and older) have a reputation for “losing” optical drives (but I have seen it occur in Vista) after uninstalling disc burning software — such as Roxio or Nero. (Sometimes.. after installing; but usually it is an uninstall failing to work properly, which leaves incorrect values in your Registry.
Sometimes, though less frequently, a Windows Update, or other software change can cause this as well.)

Sometimes Microsoft gets it right:
If this is you — you have uninstalled Roxio, say — the solution is to visit Microsoft Help & Support and click the “Fix It” button. (I have written about using the built in troubleshooter before, see Microsoft “One-click” Fixes) The appropriate Fix it page/button is found here. One click should do it!
Added bonus: the Fixit Center also repairs other common ‘glitches’, to see those, click here.

[note: MS Fixit Center requires .NET Framework 2.0 to work. If your PC is up-to-date with Windows Updates, you should already have it (.NET is up to 4.0 now). If not, click Start > Windows Updates > Custom Install. Let it scan. Look under “Optional, Software” and check all .NET Frameworks.]