Kids, Don't Try This At Home

Did you know that your computer's DVD drive has an appendix? For probably over a year now my laptop has had trouble ejecting discs. It would take the disc and read it fine, but if I tried to eject the disc it would sound like it was trying to spit it out but nothing would happen. Then, it would continually try to load and eject the disc until I turned the computer off.

Last night I got tired of trying to get a disc out so I took my laptop and DVD drive apart. After examining the DVD drive, I decided my problem was being caused by the part in the picture. So, since the drive wasn't really working anyway, I ripped the part out.

Guess what? My computer and DVD drive still work. Actually, I can now insert and eject discs with no problem. The only thing I can figure is that this part was supposed to work like a gate. That is, when there is a disc in the drive it pops up and prevents another disc from being inserted into the drive. Have you ever tried to insert a disc while there was already one in the drive? Did you hit something solid at the very front? My guess is that it was this lever. I assume that this part wasn't retracting properly (i.e. the gate was staying closed) and the disc was hitting it when it was being ejected.

If not, I don't really care what it does or what it is. My DVD drive now works better without it.

p.s. my theory passed a simple test too. After I removed the part I loaded a disc and then tried to gently load another disc. I barely slipped the second disc in the slot and it made contact with the one in the drive. It sounded like a mitre saw!