Downgrade udev to fix unusable CD tray?

[LindseyD.]

I think I've been hit by this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/875543
which makes my CD tray completely unusable. One person said that downgrading udev fixed his problem, but I asked over a week ago and no one else has said they tried it and that it worked for them.

From what I've been reading, one doesn't mess with udev lightly.

I'm wondering if anyone here has tried it, and if so, how did they do it and did it work?

[viking777]

Q1) How good are your backups? If you have qt4-fsarchiver or clonezilla images of your existing disk/partition you can try whatever you like with impunity.
Q2) Do you meet all the dependencies listed on this page (for the next oldest version of udev)? http://packages.ubuntu.com/oneiric-updates/udev
Q3) I wonder if that was why my cd tray would never work on my old laptop?
Q4) Do you own a paper clip?

If the answer to either Q1 or Q2 is negative then don't do it.

[LindseyD.]

Q1) How good are your backups? If you have qt4-fsarchiver or clonezilla images of your existing disk/partition you can try whatever you like with impunity.

Yuk! nope. the root partition isn't backed up And, since this won't boot from USB, I'd need to open the tray to stick in the install DVD.

Q2) Do you meet all the dependencies listed on this page (for the next oldest version of udev)? http://packages.ubuntu.com/oneiric-updates/udev

Double yuk! But thanks for that link. It shows me it's more complicated than I'd thought.

Q3) I wonder if that was why my cd tray would never work on my old laptop?

Well, if you googled the problem, you'll know there's a lot of people with it.

Q4) Do you own a paper clip?

Believe it or not, there's no hole in this CD tray! I'm currently searching to see if there's another way of opening the tray, but so far no luck.

If the answer to either Q1 or Q2 is negative then don't do it.

Sigh! You're quite right. Thanks for the guidance.

[viking777]

And, since this won't boot from USB, I'd need to open the tray to stick in the install DVD.

Not with qt4-fsarchiver you wouldn't, it is installable from the package manager I believe, and it is capable of live imaging (ie imaging the operating system it is running on). It doesn't actually recommend that way of imaging, running from a second distro or usb/cd is preferred, but I tried running it live on one occasion, imaged the live partition, restored it again and it all worked for me.

I still don't think udev replacement is a good idea though

BTW. Have you tried the command line:

Code: Select all

sudo eject

Edit. It doesn't even need sudo on my machine, but no harm in trying it, with or without.

[LindseyD.]

...qt4-fsarchiver ... is installable from the package manager I believe, and it is capable of live imaging (ie imaging the operating system it is running on).

It's something to check out, for sure. But it also presumes one has the space on one's hard drive, which I don't. Of course, I could make room, but that's kind of like cleaning out one's junk closet--a project more appealing in the contemplation than the execution.

BTW. Have you tried the command line:

Code: Select all

sudo eject

Yes, and its many variations, including

Code: Select all

eject -i 0 /dev/sr0

which is supposed to unlock the CD tray. I get a nice message saying:

CD-Drive may be ejected with device button

But it's a lie. The tray tries, makes this horrible "clunk" as it tries to break free, then the little green light comes on, then nothing.

If I try a straight eject I get:

eject: unable to eject, last error: Inappropriate ioctl for device

In my reading, I've learned that this may be a feature, not a bug (or a bug in the feature) in that some people were concerned about CD trays opening when carrying their laptops around, Personally, I've never heard of someone opening their CD tray by accident, but maybe I've lived a sheltered life.

Sorry for the rant, but it's getting frustrating and there's no icon for tearing one's hair out.

[viking777]

Personally, I've never heard of someone opening their CD tray by accident

That is a new one on me too.

I agree it is frustrating, but when my old laptop started to exhibit similar symptoms I just put it down to its age and used the paper clip method all the time until I got a new machine, I never even dreamed it might be a bug. The drive manufacturers have a lot to answer for in your case though, I have certainly never heard of a cd drive without a 'paper clip hole', that is madness.

[DataMan]

In response to LindseyD:

It's something to check out, for sure. But it also presumes one has the space on one's hard drive, which I don't.

If you run a LiveCD utility with fsarchiver, you could mount an external h/d and do your partition backup to that location using fsarchiver.

-DataMan

[viking777]

If you run a LiveCD utility with fsarchiver, you could mount an external h/d and do your partition backup to that location using fsarchiver.

But he can't open his cd drive, that is what the topic is all about.

[LindseyD.]

Apologies for the delay in replying. I only have a dialup account, so anything like this is slow

I have certainly never heard of a cd drive without a 'paper clip hole', that is madness.

I have finally found a couple of sites that recommend what to do in the case of pinholeless CD drives. Unfortunately, the suggestions involve powering off and a screwdriver, among other things.

So I haven't tried it yet.

FWIW, the drive is a Sony--you'd think they'd know better.

Also FWIW, I found this when looking up the name of the drive:

configuration: status=open

On to more googling. Sigh!