Can a CDRom explode in a CDRom drive? Oh, YES! The
sound it makes sounds like a combination of a breaker popping and
window pane glass shattering.
In 2004, I had a CDrom detonate in the drive, at first I was not
sure what was going on. Then when I was getting back to playing
my game, nothing happened. the drive stopped working. I
could not get it to open. So, I shutdown the system.
Pulled the case apart and removed the CDRom drive. I had to use
a paper clip to open the drive (yes that is how you get a CDRom open manually)
and I found a shattered CDRom and tons of shards of the CD and silver
emulation. I could not believe that the CD had exploded.
While working for a major computer manufacturer, I had heard many of
the Hardware techs had taken calls about CD exploding in drives.
They always had to have a new drive shipped out to the customer.
Well there is a reason for that. If a CD explodes in the drive,
it will kill the laser in the drive, everytime!
What causes the problem? Well, heat. A CD that gets
hot, hotter than one that is just out of a CDRW. A computer that
has been running all day is probably already at a temperature of over
120 F. Which means the CD and CDROM drive are at least if not
well above that. CDs can get brittle over time by heat. The CD
in question was also over 4 years old. It was a CDR (CD Recordable).
It had been in the drive all day. The temperature in the room
was around 82F .
The computer that performed this amazing feat was a Dell Optiplex
GX-100 with a Celeron 433. The CDRom drive installed was a LG
Model number CRD-8400B(MI). Below are pictures of the Drive,
computer and CD.
Can you get a cdrom out of the drive with the power off. Sure
you can.
You need a paper clip. On all cdrom drives there is a little
hole in the from of the drive. You just slide the clip into the
hole and there is a bar on the inside you push on. Then the door
will slide open. (as shown below)
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