Arch Linux

pauper

Member

Registered: 2012-06-25

Posts: 38

Trouble ejecting optical drive

I have two DVD drives on my desktop, one is an older IDE drive and the other is a SATA drive (ASUS     DRW-24B1ST) that  has always given me grief ejecting the tray.

lssci
...
[1:0:0:0]    cd/dvd  ASUS     DRW-24B1ST       1.01  /dev/sr0
[6:0:0:0]    cd/dvd  HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H20N 1.01  /dev/sr1

cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info                                                                 
CD-ROM information, Id: cdrom.c 3.20 2003/12/17

drive name:             sr1     sr0
drive speed:            48      48
drive # of slots:       1       1
Can close tray:         1       1
Can open tray:          1       1
Can lock tray:          1       1
Can change speed:       1       1
Can select disk:        0       0
Can read multisession:  1       1
Can read MCN:           1       1
Reports media changed:  1       1
Can play audio:         1       1
Can write CD-R:         1       1
Can write CD-RW:        1       1
Can read DVD:           1       1
Can write DVD-R:        1       1
Can write DVD-RAM:      1       1
Can read MRW:           1       1
Can write MRW:          1       1
Can write RAM:          1       1

Using the eject button fairly consistently fails after several seconds of mechanical noise (sometimes pushing the button rapidly works) and using eject from the terminal generally fails:

eject -v /dev/sr0                                                                           
eject: device name is `/dev/sr0'
eject: /dev/sr0: not mounted
eject: /dev/sr0: is whole-disk device
eject: /dev/sr0: trying to eject using CD-ROM eject command
eject: CD-ROM eject command failed
eject: /dev/sr0: trying to eject using SCSI commands
eject: SCSI eject failed
eject: /dev/sr0: trying to eject using floppy eject command
eject: floppy eject command failed
eject: /dev/sr0: trying to eject using tape offline command
eject: tape offline command failed
eject: unable to eject

although it does occasionally work, sometimes with the CD-ROM eject command and other times with the SCSI eject (there seems to be no consistency to it).

The only way I can get it to successfully eject (most of the time) is by issuing:

eject -a off /dev/sr0 && eject -v /dev/sr0

or

eject -i off /dev/sr0 && eject -v /dev/sr0

This is still inconsistent and like in the other cases it sometimes ejects with the CD-ROM command and other times with the SCSI command.

I have tried altering the udev rule for cdrom's by removing '--lock-media' from this line (as recommended on various forums by users having the same trouble):

IMPORT{program}="cdrom_id --lock-media $devnode"

but nothing improved.

I can only find reports of users saying that this drive works fine on linux so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. Can anybody help?

circleface

Member

Registered: 2012-05-26

Posts: 639

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

Have you tried the drive in another operating system?  Or maybe even another computer?  It could just be a faulty drive and won't ever work properly.

pauper

Member

Registered: 2012-06-25

Posts: 38

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

It was actually in my mediacentre (running arch) for several years (and two motherboards) with the same problem - I ended up with another sata DVD drive recently and decided to put it in the mediacentre and the ASUS in my desktop as its much easier to deal with the hassles of ejecting the tray there than from the lounge with a remote control.

circleface

Member

Registered: 2012-05-26

Posts: 639

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

If you have tried it on multiple systems and had the same results, I would say it is a faulty drive, or at the very least a hardware problem and not a software one.  I have an Asus drive similar to yours and I have never encountered any trouble ejecting a disk with the button or the eject command.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,877

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

Reboot the system, stall it by (preferably) either entering the BIOS or selecting items in GRUB.
Try to use the HW eject button there.

If the device doesn't react properly (and "makes noise") that's simply a hardware error.
The mechanics are usually not very complex -> get a screwdriver, open the device and inspect the seating and condition of the gears (plastic crap, will work some thousand cycles before at least some teeth are damaged - but if you're lucky, they're just slightly displaced)

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tpfkanep

Member

From: South Africa

Registered: 2009-12-15

Posts: 134

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

I have similar problems with my SATA CD drive: I found that always leaving a disc in the drive = stable ejects.

pauper

Member

Registered: 2012-06-25

Posts: 38

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

Reboot the system, stall it by (preferably) either entering the BIOS or selecting items in GRUB.
Try to use the HW eject button there.

If the device doesn't react properly (and "makes noise") that's simply a hardware error.
The mechanics are usually not very complex -> get a screwdriver, open the device and inspect the seating and condition of the gears (plastic crap, will work some thousand cycles before at least some teeth are damaged - but if you're lucky, they're just slightly displaced)

Yeah it doesn't open from BIOS, but its been problematic from day one.

pauper

Member

Registered: 2012-06-25

Posts: 38

Re: Trouble ejecting optical drive

I have similar problems with my SATA CD drive: I found that always leaving a disc in the drive = stable ejects.

Oddly, this works for me also.