Dell notebook with stuck CD

[briareos_kerensky]

My Dell notebook (a Vostro 1555) no longer ejects an audio CD; when the eject button is pressed I can ear the inner workings trying to eject the CD but after a short while it gives up.
The unit correctly reads the CD without any problems.

I've tried everything except disassembling the notebook, which is out of warranty, so no luck in having it serviced for free.
The CD unit is a slot-in design, no external eject button; I was going to disassemble the notebook (found detailed information on Dell's website) but will I be able to eject the CD from the reader once I get there? Does anyone know if a slim/notebook sized slot-in CD unit has a forced eject button or if I can grab the CD and get it out by simply pulling it?

[EvilBoris]

Try gently appplying pressure (squeezing) on either side of the laptop (where the drive is) failing that, turn it upside down and when it's making the noises it makes as it's trying to eject, give it a wallop.
I've got the same problem with my dell 1558

[briareos_kerensky]

Update: I was unable to "gently" eject the CD so I had to disassemble the laptop and the CD unit to get the CD back.

[smouty]

Does the CD drive not have a small hole to forcibly eject it using a paper clip (or is this the 'button' you mention)?

[speedlolita]

Glorious thinkpad CD drive simply pops out for mutilation.. :3

[briareos_kerensky]

Does the CD drive not have a small hole to forcibly eject it using a paper clip (or is this the 'button' you mention)?

Slot-in drive, no tray nor forced eject button. The drive itself has a small metal cover on the slot-in and a small metal cylinder on the right side that secured the drive in place; then of course there's the CD motor assembly keeping the disk in place. One of these three items didn't disengage properly, so it was impossible to forcibly pull the CD off and I had to remove the unit top cover, which was the easiest part of disassembling the damn thing. The CD is recognized by Windows but I'm not testing my luck by inserting an other disk.

Now I have to decide if give Dell a call asking for a replacement unit or just go an an external drive. Not that I use CDs/DVDs much, but I know that I'll be forced to use them if I'm not prepared.

[randombs]

No random spare CD's you could throw at it? Blank CD, perhaps? If you just use a few screws to hold the drive together, it won't be too much hassle to recover your disc. I did that when my Macbook drive played up. If I were in your shoes, I'd see how much a replacement drive off eBay would cost before making my decision as I doubt Dell's prices will be any good.

Like you, I rarely use my drive(except to rip albums) but decided to just get a replacement as external drives can get annoying, especially if you travel and forget it at home...