Oy, big problem with CD

[Jeff Needle]

I'm on a Dell WinXP system, SP2. I usually keep a reference work CD in the
drive, but when I back up, I remove that CD and put in a blank CD for
writing the backup files. It's always worked well.

Today, I ejected the reference work CD and inserted my backup CD. The
backup program, Cobian, just hung. I didn't know what was going on. I shut
down Cobian and tried to eject the CD manually, but it didn't work. I then
used the My Computer route -- right click on the CD drive and then click on
"eject," but that didn't work either -- it just hung. And I noticed that
the description that usually accompanies the drive icon was absent -- just a
generic "CD-Rom" description.

I rebooted, first a warm boot, then a cold boot, still no luck. I tried
everything, even went to the extent of going to the Command Prompt, typing
D: and <enter> (D is my CD rom drive), and it too hung.

Ack! What's happening? Any ideas? Thanks so much for any help you can
give.

 

[Clark]

Was all this done with the Backup CD in the drive?

If you can't get the CD out, power down the computer and look for a small
hole in the front of the CD Drive. Use a paperclip (straightened out) or
something similar to put in the hole and push gently to open the CD.

Maybe there was something wrong with the CD or it was inserted incorrectly.

Clark

 

[Jeff Needle]

Worked like a charm! I re-inserted the reference CD and it's accessing
perfectly.

Thanks so much. I'm sorry to be such a dolt, old age, you know...