Okay, I’m holding off on the “screwdriver solution.” I ran adaptec and attempted to eject the disc- no dice. The disc is a data disc created after moving files in windows explorer to the disc. I still suspect Spybot may have cooked something important.
Thanks again for all the suggestions so far!
Well, so much for no power. 
Reboot into safe mode (hold down F5 while booting, the menu should appear) and try it then. If it works, you’ve probably got a software conflict somewhere; if not, something in your registry probably has been smoked. You can try reinstalling the drivers at that point.
Have you tried trying to pop the thing out while the computer is still putzing with the bios?
Its too bad you dont have the XP feature of going back to the last time your computer was working right. That would prove whether or not that Spybot was the culprit.
You all are so lucky to have computers with cd drives. All mine came with is this silly cup holder…
At the risk of being repetive I would recommend (as others have) that you look again for the eject pinhole somewhere, on or around the front bezel. I have dealt with dozens and dozens of different CD drives and they all had an eject pin hole. You might want to call DELL and ask them where it is if it has a non-standard location.
No, the 2nd worst that can happen is you fry some other part of your computer. You can easily cause a short in the CD drive, fry the PS and then get a cascade effect while things are going down. Since many computers have stuff crammed next to the CD drive you risk both electrical and physical damage when things go “oops”.
Note that once a PS is damaged, the you do have a real danger to you. These things are frequently made so unbelievably cheaply that there is no guarantee of behavior once damaged. A fusible resistor and a cheap transformer can add up to a real danger.
There is also the risk of damaging the CD in the drive itself.
Why take any risk whatsoever?
Sometimes the emergency eject hole is located on the CD tray face itself, and sometimes it’s near or even in the gap between the tray face and the bezel, making it tough to spot at a quick glance. I’ve built dozens of PCs and worked with probably hundreds of others, and have never once seen a CD-ROM drive that didn’t have one.
Latest update: I am able to eject the cd IF I do it from the system boot screen (hold down F12 while starting). I replaced the physical drive itself with another that I found scrounging around.
NOW the drive opens and closes normally, but it doesn’t recognize any cd in the drive, even when one is in there. Also, I cannot copy or move files to or from the cd. When I said earlier that I could manipulate the drive, I had not checked to see whether I could copy to it. Darnit.
I’ve beaten the damned thing, said a prayer, did a dance (the chicken-dance, hey - it coulda worked), and left some sweets out for the elves last night in an attempt to coerce a little help. And get my shoes resoled. None of it worked but something ate the sweets.
I’m going to reinstall the drivers and see if that helps - more updates as they occur.
I hate to have to say this, but I’ve done it myself, so don’t yell at me–now that you’ve swapped out the CD drive, it’s getting power and can eject the CD, since it’s not being seen by the OS, have you checked the data cable to make sure it’s connected properly?
<-------inserts Apple Ad…
Is there a reason this couldn’t happen with an Apple, merge? Just asking.
Replace the ribbon cable.
I got a dell & it’s case was a little tight one time so that there wasn’t enough room for the door to open (got caught on the case). So I put it in another bay & its okay now.
Doesn’t this scenario strike you as just a little far-fetched? Prying open the tray on a CD-ROM drive is not like poking through the innards of a TV set.
One wonders if the OP should own any electrical appliances. After all, one could explode without warning. That car is looking pretty dangerous too. Perhaps it would be best if he never left the house.
There are risks inherent in any activity. The ones described in this thread are about as unsafe as flipping a light switch.
Well of course it CAN happen with an apple… It was a joke…
All the dumb switch adds… the whole they just work thing…
I do prefer mac… I don’t like slot loading drives… CD’s have a much better chace of getting stuck in a slot…
Apple has a few machines with Slot Drives… I prefer my iBook…
but I have had CD’s stuck in my PC… paperclip worked…
and I have had a CD stuck in the server here at work…
a slot loading DVD… but the paperclip would not work… nothing worked… We had a tech come in to take it apart and replace it…