Well as this is an older computer I imagine you do not want to be spending any money on it. I would suggest the CD player is toast, however let's see. There is a small hole in the front of the CD player, try inserting a paperclip in there and see what happens.

As you appear to have both a CD player and a CD player/burner you could always disable the player by removing the data and power cables to it. Then you would simply copy any CD you need copied to the hard drive then burn from there. An extra step but no money spent on an older machine.

Of course you could buy a new DVD player and replace the seemingly defective player, they are often available for $50 or less and are name brands too. You might find a used CD player in a thrift store or even a computer repair shop for a few bucks.

I just replaced the dead cd-burner drive on one of my computers, I got a lite-on DVD burner drive that does pretty much everything from newegg for like $39. There are good prices out there. I also have an external usb cd-burner that I can connect to any of my computers by usb to have an added cd-burner, I found it on a clearance rack at an electronics store for around $15.
If you do not want to dig into the machine to take the old one out and install the new one you may want to get one of the external usb ones.

Replacing the internal one is not difficult but does take a bit of knowledge, it is more difficult than say adding memory.

Some times the doors can get off the tracks and on occasion they can be taken out and worked on and fixed but that is a big maybe!

It is a good idea to never force things!
Also if you use the paperclip in the little hole in the front of the drive it is usually advised to have the pc turned off and unplugged to do that, I know not everyone does that but on the directions that come with them it does say that. Guess the risk of something electrical happening is the reason.

External USB drive is a fine idea. I had one on my old Win98 system. It was a little bit slower than the internal DVD drive operationally even though its read/write speeds were higher. I suspect USB 1.0 the cause of that.

My recollection is that there was a driver to install for Win98 and there was optional software included on the installation CD.

The good thing about an external drive is it can be used on another compatible system or more than one system if so desired.

DA

The reason it won't stay closed is because he broke the mechanism by forcing it open. Sometimes you can't get a disc to eject, and the easiest thing is to reboot and then open the drawer with the button or with the eject command.

The CD-RW drive is kaput, he needs a new one. But this machine is too old to consider spending even $5 on.

Try Freecycle for a free used cd-rw drive. I have a pile of them myself.

Handy rule of thumb for computers: Take the age of the computer, double it, and think of it as a car. In other words, if you have a 6-year-old computer, it's like driving a 12-year-old car. In this case, it sounds like your husband is trying to repair a 20-something clunker.

And no, there's not such thing as a "classic" computer.

thanks to all who posted. Strangely enough, after letting it sit overnight (a second night) the mauled drawer appears to be staying closed all on its own. (whew!) Hubby has a brand new PC to destroy--I mean use--now, so hopefully he won't repeat his mistake. Allow me to introduce Toyoyabob, who will be doing his own posting as soon as we get our confirmation.

Again thanks,
Jann

jannaz wrote:"Hubby has a brand new PC to destroy..." Did Hubby's ploy work, or what? I used a little different strategy with wifey.

Fruitjar - tee hee! He's needed a new PC for a long time, but like me, was unwilling to give up W/98. But maybe I should try that trick myself--break, oh, say the door on my Suzuki and he'll buy me a Jeep Liberty????

Cheers, J