DVD-RW Tray Belt Replacement

So there I was sitting in front of my PC wanting to burn a music CD disc for my truck when I went to place the blank CD-R into my Lite-On DH20A4H drive all I heard was “whirr, whirr, whirr, chunk!” What had happened was my tray drive belt after 4 years gave up. This small belt drives the mechanism that opens the DVD-RW tray where you place your blank discs.

Interesting note I have two drives in my PC the other DVD-RW drive is 7 years old and is still working fine it’s the PHILIPS DVD+/-RW DVD8631. Its tray drive belt is way bigger than the Lite-On DH20A4H tray drive belt by about 10x!

To replace the tray drive belt remove the DVD-RW drive from the computer. Then use a paper clip to release the drive tray there should be a small hole right under the lower edge of the drive tray. Stick the straighten paper clip into that hole and the tray should pop-out. Then look for the tabs that hold the front faceplate there should be one on each side and one on the bottom. You have to press on the tab and wiggle the front faceplate off the case its best to start on one end and work your way to the middle/other side. Note when I first took off my faceplate there is a clip that holds the top of the faceplate that will come off by itself while you are wiggling it.

Now that you have the tray released and the faceplate detached flip the DVD-RW over to remove the case screws there should be (4) of them. By unscrewing these case screws you will be able to remove the DVD-RW top cover to gain access to the tray belt.

Once you have the top of the DVD-RW case removed you will be able to see the tray drive belt.

When my situation happened I used a small rubber band as a temporary fix until I could order an actual replacement tray drive belt. 

I could have just left it that way with the small rubber band, but I managed to find a replacement belt online. The belt is actually designed to fix a common problem for the Xbox 360 CD-ROM tray that won’t open (sounds familiar?) I got 10 belts for $2. So if it happens again I’ll be ready!

Note I ended up using an ear-cleaning tool that I had in my grooming kit that I never used (does anybody uses it?) it worked really well in handling the small drive belt. The tool had a small curved surface that worked great for cupping the drive belt to maneuver around the drive wheel. I first place the new drive belt over the small drive wheel and gently stretched it over and slid it around the bigger wheel. That’s it the Lite-On DH20A4H disc tray works like it did when I first got it! Hope this helps someone... if there is any questions ask in the comment area.