The facetious title of this thread conceals a real problem with my drive: for some reason the tray ejection process has become more forceful after a few weeks of friction-free functionality. While I enjoy the rapid disc presentation, the initial outward burst of the tray causes discs (particularly lighter discs like CDs) to pop up and slightly back. This inevitably causes the disc to jam inside the drive and, worst of all, introduces a series of noticeable scratches on the underside (‘business side’) of this disc. There is one review at Newegg that notes this potential problem; however, with searches done here and elsewhere it seems this is not a common issue for this drive.
Corrective actions? The standard option to RMA the device doesn’t seem that appealing to me for two reasons. First, the practical: it would cost about 1/3 of the total cost of the drive to send it back to Newegg. I rather save the money for a different species of LiteOn (if it eventually fails to write – i.e. further degrades). Secondly, the political-ecological: where do most old drives go to die? To the landfill? Perhaps some are recycled/refurbished. I must confess I don’t really know the possible fate for my drive (yet I would say that despite factors such placed purchased/returned, regional location of purchaser, dominant political ideologies one is inscribed in, etc. that most drives not returned to the manufacturer take the walk of death to the landfill). In any case, the simple point is that I’m trying to watch my ecological impact (and yes this means fewer burned discs for me). Hopefully one can assert the importance of the ecological and not be written off as an acolyte of New Age mysticism, a hugger of trees, etc (or have a slightly critical remark on the crisis of the market taken as a marker of being ‘anti-capitalist’ – an ideological maneuver par excellence on part of the addresser). I’m not interested in watching China (other parts of Asia) destroy itself through ecological disaster, nor I’m I interested in surrounding myself with piles of rubbish (recreating Rome), or shipping it to those countries that can’t afford to refuse it.
This may sound odd, but I achieved success with what I will call the ‘slow eject finger method’. The simple technique: I press the eject button and, with the right about of pressure, place my finger on the tray. The finger pressure softens the initial ejecting force and no more jams occur. A pleasurable experience for both the user and the drive, but, as you can guess, it becomes tedious.
My questions:
The long shot: is it possible to address the tray ejecting speed through EEPROM or the firmware?
Other things to try? Software ejecting through Imgburn has no effect. I’m not hesitant to open-up the drive if something can be done.
A picture of the jam (below):
Cheap media acknowledged. However, the jam doesn’t discriminate; both CDs and DVD of different manufacturers fall victim.
Jams don’t occur all the time. It is haphazard. Sometimes it happens five times in row; other times, 1 in 15 ejections. Nonetheless, it’s frequent enough to be a problem.
This particular jam occurred late in the ejecting process (3/4 of the way). Most get caught about half way.
While the picture is not the best, you can see how far the disc is away from the front of its nested circular tray groove.
I believe my drive was made in December 2007. Current firmware: 9P59 stock.
If nothing else works, I might try to devise a non-invasive tab to put at the back of the drive to keep the discs from popping up and back. Thoughts? Suggestions?
Many thanks for this virtual community! 
