Dvd Player Won't Eject or Open

[ronvenema]

Hi, I'm having a problem with my Dvd player. It's a Hitachi HL-DT-ST RAM GH0L. When I push the eject button on the front it does nothing. When I open a terminal and type umount /dev/sr0 it says that it's not mounted. When I type eject /dev/sr0 nothing happens. The only way that I can regain control is too shut down my computer and start it up again, very frustrating! Any idea's?

[menotu]

Just a thought but have you checked that the application that was using the DVD player has closed down properly and released "control" back to you?

[ronvenema]

Thanks for the suggestion, but sometimes there is no Cd or Dvd in the player and it still won't open.

[gasman]

This may not explain why you were able to regain control(unless the mechanism was stalled and a power down released it) but a possibility is, that the belt that drives the drawer mechanism, is slipping.
This belt is often accessible with the disc drawer in the eject position.
To eject a disc , this belt has to deliver the power to break a strong magnetic lock,and move all the gears to slide the drawer out.
Most ODD's also have a small hole in the front panel.By pushing a pin into this hole,you are able to open the drawer with or without power ,handy for recovering discs from an uncomliant drive ,or useful as a diagnostic technique.A ball end pin is useful , as quiet a bit of force is required.  

[ShowMeRon]

Straighten out part of a paper clip does well to release the drawer also.