My 11mo old pulled at the DVD drive this morning and now it won't stay shut. We only use the HDD recorder to record shows but now the drive hangs open and and it displays "open" in the upper right all of the time. The cost for a replacement drive is outrageous at $194+ shipping and I don't want to have to buy a new one. Anyway to disable the DVD drive?

Is it the flap-down cover or the actual drive tray that "hangs open"? I don't know of any way to disable the DVD drive, but perhaps in Setup there is something to disable the display. Have you tried unplugging then replugging the machine? If nothing works, and you don't use the burner anyway, your ultimate recourse might be to try to shove it back closed with a little force. Also, sometimes the only advantage one has over an 11-month-old is height, so a good, high shelf may be a good idea to disable the little one's inquisitive hands.

The drive tray will open & close but the unit re-opens it again. I've held the tray shut but the drive keeps wanting to try and re-open it. The "Open" symbol stays on in the top right of the display and the LED display on the front also says "Open". I've taken it apart but there was nothing internal that I could see was jammed. I'm wondering if there is a switch or contact that is either mis-located, in a bind or that could be forced close to keep the drive shut.

I did not ask for advice on how to keep my 11mo old from getting into anything so don't comment super nanny.

I tried turning Display off in the Setup menu, but that only affects other display types; the open/close icon in the top right corner continues to show. If you really don't want to use the burner anymore, perhaps you could unplug or snip its wires internally, but who knows what effect this could have on the unit as a whole.

Ya, pulling the wires to the drive gives an error and the machine won't operate past that. I tested it out while I had it apart.

Is there a service code/menu for this thing?

Are you sure it's not 'bumping' on the edge of the door or hole where the tray comes out?

My replacement drive is STILL sitting on top of my XS32, because trying to put it in place 'properly' would cause the same thing to happen -- it would always open automatically. It is/was because it hits a 'bump' and wants to automatically reopen.

I haven't ever tried the various hacks (duct tape?) to try to get it placed properly.. so my XS32 innards are just collecting dust being exposed.

Tried that also. With the drive completely out with exception to the ribbon connections it continued to act the same way. There has to be something sprung internally. I had the lid off of the drive where I could see the tray gears and belt pully working but I didn't see anything getting in the way.

I had to rush to put it together b/c shows were coming on that we wanted to record. I hope to be able to fully pull it apart this weekend to see if I can detect anything.

If you can get some tweezers into the drive and take the belt off the pully, you could then push the tray closed and it will stay, although you will most probably still have the "open" showing on your display at least the drawer will be shut.

This is symptomatic of a bad digiPC board. Meaning you could replace the drive and the new one will still do the same thing. I've had this happen and it was solved by swapping out the board. This is a very expensive board and is not practical to replace with a new one. I stumbled on this when there were a bunch of cheap doa XS35's being sold on ebay. I picked up a couple for parts and found that swapping the digiPC board cleared up what I thought was a drive problem.

The digiPC board is the board that sits to the left of the drive when looking at the machine from the front. It's the top board (two are sandwiched together). The one that snaps into the main board.

edit:

In the pic the digiPC board is the green one to the left. It snaps into the main board which is pictured just to its right. The other two boards are the power supply and the tuner.

If this is in fact the problem you might try calling Toshiba. They do offer a flat rate for repairs which would probably be less than a third of what the digiPC board would cost if purchased separately.

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb143/nextoo/xs35parts.jpg

Thanks! I played around with it last night and I do think you're right about the digiPC board. I couldn't find anything mechanically wrong with the drive and pulled the plug to the motor to at least keep the drive closed. Not even for a flicker has it stopped displaying "open" on the front LED which would make me think it is beyond the drive.

I appreciate all of the help!

An update. Even more of the unit is going bad. It now says the HDD is corrupted and needs to be re-formatted. It had deleted all of the shows we had recorded without even being prompted. It no longer will record shows so now after only 2 years it is worthless. I know they have a flat rate fix it fee, but even that is not worth it to me. I'd rather put the money towards a media center HTPC.

Have you tried the HDD format option? It's in the Setup menu under Management settings.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/p_l/RD-XS35HDDformat.jpg

I'll give it a try again, but not even the menu comes up to allow this function. Can you do me a favor and tell me exactly what buttons you push to get to that menu item. I have never found a format function.

If when you plug in the unit and power up it doesn't give you the option to format now when it displays the corrupted HDD message (had that once, did it, and all has been fine since), then here's how to find it:

1. Press Setup

2. Press the right arrow key until at the top you highlight the second to last circle icon from the right, the one with the little keys in it. It's the Management settings page.

3. The HDD format option is the fifth one down from the top.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/p_l/RD-XS35SetupMenu.jpg

Thanks. I found the setup button under the cover when I got home. That was the part I was missing thinking those buttons were only for the DVD.

Tried to format and it says it's not able to b/c the DVD drive is open. I can't win.