CD-Rom Drive?

Ok, this happens once in a while, I went to open my CD-Rom drive and it did not open. The light went on, but nothing happened. I shutdown. Nothing. I pressed it a number of times in a row. Nothing. I tried this code:

Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm.dll" Alias "mciSendStringA" (ByVal _
lpstrCommand As String, ByVal lpstrReturnString As String, ByVal uReturnLength _
As Long, ByVal hwndCallback As Long) As Long

Dim lngReturn As Long
lngReturn = mciSendString("set CDAudio door open", strReturn, 127, 0)

Nothing! I know this will go away, because it usually does. Takes about an hour though. Is it my computer being stubborn? Why does this happen only once in a while? Anyone got any other suggestions?

[hypnos]

Make sure none of the Scsi settings are enabled in device manager. It's happend to me before.

The only thing that is on the SCSI is Zip Drive and there is no conflict or anything. Maybe my computer's mad at me. It happens sometimes. Thanks for helping, I'm sure it will work again, it's probably just that time of month again.

[hypnos]

I’ve had so many problems with CD ROMs. I have gone through 3 in less then 1 year! Maybe they just don’t make them like they used to?

Matthew, try this,
I got this form from Yonatan, it uses VB to write to a .com file written in ASM.

paste this into a text file and rename it to "Form1.frm"

VERSION 5.00
Begin VB.Form Form1 
   Caption         =   "Form1"
   ClientHeight    =   3195
   ClientLeft      =   60
   ClientTop       =   345
   ClientWidth     =   4680
   LinkTopic       =   "Form1"
   ScaleHeight     =   3195
   ScaleWidth      =   4680
   StartUpPosition =   3  'Windows Default
   Begin VB.CommandButton cmdEject 
      Caption         =   "Command1"
      Height          =   495
      Left            =   1740
      TabIndex        =   1
      Top             =   1440
      Width           =   1215
   End
   Begin VB.DriveListBox drvList 
      Height          =   315
      Left            =   420
      TabIndex        =   0
      Top             =   900
      Width           =   3735
   End
End
Attribute VB_Name = "Form1"
Attribute VB_GlobalNameSpace = False
Attribute VB_Creatable = False
Attribute VB_PredeclaredId = True
Attribute VB_Exposed = False
Option Explicit

Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcessId As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long

Private Const STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED = &HF0000
Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000
Private Const PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS = STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED Or SYNCHRONIZE Or &HFFF
Private Const INFINITE = &HFFFFFFFF

Private Sub cmdEject_Click()
    Dim lProcessID As Long, hProcess As Long
    Dim bFile(1 To 17) As Byte, bFileNum As Byte, bDriveNum As Byte, sFileName As String
    ' 1 To 17 because the assembly code takes up 17 bytes of disk space.
    
    If Caption = "Busy..." Then Exit Sub
    Tag = Caption
    Caption = "Busy..."
    cmdEject.Enabled = False
    DoEvents ' Update caption
    
    ' First lets get the DriveNum.
    ' The upper case of the first word in drvList.Drive is A, or B, etc.
    ' ASCII codes: A = 65, B = 66, etc. Requested: A = 1, B = 2, etc.
    ' We just need to decrement 64 from the ASCII code.
    bDriveNum = Asc(UCase(Left(drvList.Drive, 1))) - 64
    
    ' mov ax, 440Dh
    ' "mov ax" = B8
    ' Then the source 440D in little-endian format: 0D 44
    ' "mov ax, 440Dh" = B8 0D 44
    bFile(1) = &HB8
    bFile(2) = &HD
    bFile(3) = &H44
    
    ' mov bx, DriveNum
    ' "mov bx" = BB
    ' Then the source DriveNum in little-endian format.
    ' Since DriveNum is a number between 1 and 26, its high byte will ALWAYS be zero.
    ' Since this is a little-endian system, first goes the low byte, then the high byte.
    ' So DriveNum can be expressed like this: [bDriveNum] 00
    ' "mov bx, DriveNum" = BB [bDriveNum] 00
    bFile(4) = &HBB
    bFile(5) = bDriveNum
    bFile(6) = &H0
    
    ' mov ch, 8
    ' "mov ch" = B5
    ' Then the source 8 is one byte... Just: 08
    ' "mov ch, 8" = B5 08
    bFile(7) = &HB5
    bFile(8) = &H8
    
    ' mov cl, 49h
    ' "mov cl" = B1
    ' Then the source 49 is again, one byte... Just: 49
    ' "mov cl, 49h" = B1 49
    bFile(9) = &HB1
    bFile(10) = &H49
    
    ' int 21h
    ' "int" = CD
    ' The interrupt 21h is just one byte: 21
    ' "int 21h" = CD 21
    bFile(11) = &HCD
    bFile(12) = &H21
    
    ' mov ax, 4C00h
    ' "mov ax" = B8
    ' Then the source 4C00 in little-endian format: 00 4C
    ' "mov ax, 4C00h" = B8 00 4C
    bFile(13) = &HB8
    bFile(14) = &H0
    bFile(15) = &H4C
    
    ' int 21h
    ' Didn't change since before: CD 21
    bFile(16) = &HCD
    bFile(17) = &H21
    
    ' Now that we are done with converting the source code to hex,
    ' we can save the data to a .com file and run it.
    sFileName = App.Path
    If Not Right(sFileName, 1) = "\" Then sFileName = sFileName & "\"
    sFileName = sFileName & "eject.com"
    
    bFileNum = FreeFile
    Open sFileName For Binary As bFileNum
        Put bFileNum, , bFile() ' Write Assembly data
    Close bFileNum
    
    lProcessID = Shell(sFileName, vbHide) ' Execute it, hidden from the user
    
    On Error Resume Next
    hProcess = OpenProcess(PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, False, lProcessID) ' Open the process
    If hProcess = 0 Then ' Already ended. Happens
        Call Kill(sFileName)
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Call WaitForSingleObject(hProcess, INFINITE) ' Wait for it to end
    Call CloseHandle(hProcess) ' Close the process handle
    
    Call Kill(sFileName) ' Destroy the file
    
    cmdEject.Enabled = True
    Caption = Tag
End Sub

All it says is "Busy" Dennis.

It's still not working, but I looked in the Device Manager and under CD-ROM, the driver is listed and in it, for the settings, it has Options. These are the options:

Disabled > Checked
Sync Data Transfer > Not Checked
Auto Insert Notification > Checked
Removable > Checkbox Disabled
Int 13 Unit > Checkbox Disabled
DMA > Not Checked

Would it be safe to Uncheck Disabled? Maybe that's the reason? If that doesn't work...rush emergency - computer hospital .

[hypnos]

If there is a disable check box that is checked I would say that's the problem. Just uncheck it and let us know if it worked. Gook Luck!

That did not harm me...nor did it do anything.
Still won't work!
Anyone got any other suggestions before I go get the hammer?

Maybe it's because I don't use it much, I haven't used it in over a month. And I just bought Visual Basic 6.0 and I went to put the CD in and it wouldn't open .

[hypnos]

It maybe the power lead. Believe it or not, the CD ROMs light would still come on if the power lead wasn't plugged in because the data ribbon has a very low voltage inside. I've seen it myself! Maybe you should open the back of your computer and check that all the leads are correctly inserted into the CD ROM.

Okay, I take the computer to the computer hospital and the guy hooks it up, plugs it in, and it works fine. But he said a 24x was a bit slow and outdated. So he gives me the idea to put a paper clip in the little hole (HeSaidJoe emailed me about this later also), so I get home and I press the button, and it doesn't work. So I use a paper clip and it opens, but now, the light won't go on at all. So I close the CD-ROM manually and now, it's dead. So I took it back today, since I know the owner, she let me install the new CD-ROM drive and doesn't charge me for labor ($75), but just charges me for the CD-ROM ($60). Now I bring it home, works now, and I can install Visual Basic 6.0, finally. Thank you all for your help.

Just letting you know the end of the story .