CDROM Tray is Lock - Can't open when empty

[jtpoole99]

Regardless of what I do, I still can't open my drive tray the regular way. I'm starting to think my drive is malfunctioning since none of the commands here work all the time. The eject command works after I've typed it into a terminal about four or five times. Most of the time my only option of opening the drive is using a paper-clip to insert in the hole. I know this isnt normal operation, but pressing the eject button does not work all the time, not even when the computer is rebooting into Ubuntu. Is this a drive problem or OS problem?

From CD Trayed in Statesboro, GA USA

[jonathanlemoine]

It could be that an application is locking your drive so the button on the drive is disabled. Use "eject -i 0" to unlock. I'm not sure but if your device is not /dev/cdrom then you may have to specify it.