[natty]

Just got home with a new Acer Aspire with a matshita dvd ram uj-85js.

Tray wont open, either by pressing the eject button or by going to
'my compute'r and selecting 'eject'.

I assume there is no disc in the tray as the machine is new.

Note that this unit has no paperclip pinhole.

Any advice appreciated.

Natty.

[Bob Cerelli]

If you are comfortable opening up the side of the computer, you might make sure the power connector is on the back of the CD ROM drive

[natty]

Originally Posted by Bob Cerelli

If you are comfortable opening up the side of the computer, you might make sure the power connector is on the back of the CD ROM drive

Thanks Bob but the light flashes when I press the eject button
or select 'eject' from 'My Computer'.

Natty.

[Bob Cerelli]

This new information is helpful.

Now knowing that it has power, but doesn't open, tends to point to a defective drive.

Since it is new, I would take it back to where you got it and have the drive exchanged.

[SergioBarros]

I don't have the answer to this, but after about 6 months of use of my new Acer Aspire 3003LCi, the DVD reader drive also got the same problem you are having. When you try to open the tray, the LED flashes and you hear some noises from the drive like the tray mechanism failing. In my case I had just forced the tray to open with a little help of my hand, nothing too strong, but the necessary to the tray open again. I think the problem is caused by excess of dust, and so the tray mechanism get stuck after a certain period of use, this is certainly a bad projected DVD drive. When you hold the laptop your left hand goes right under the DVD tray, and you can feel that the drive is flimsy. Good luck there!

[xtreampb]

when i built my comp the dvd drive wouldnt open. this one came with 2 interchangable skins and would open with the other skin. i foud that the prob was that drive cover got cought on the skin of the drive so i took some sand paper and sanded the skin down and now it works w/out a hitch

[accoleon]

I just bought a similar model (Acer Aspire AS5685WLMi), and it has the same dvd-ram drive as the OP (a Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-85JS).

Not sure if its exactly the same, but the UJ-85JS on my laptop is a SLOT-based drive rather than a tray-based one. There is no tray to open/eject! You just stick your disk into the thin slot running above the eject button and it will enter automatically.

Hope that is the case, otherwise you might just want to take it back to the dealer - it is so new after all.