Drive won't eject disk and leaves a sticky residue

[Ragnorok64]

This is really odd. I just found that the DVD drive on my older computer will not open on it's own. The drive in this computer doesn't get used that much so it's been closed for a very very long time (I'd estimate 7-8 months). When I used a paper clip to force the drive open I found that the center of the disk had a sticky residue on it. I tried a few blank disks in there and the same thing happens to them. The drive will read correctly once the disk is in there but I can't get it out without it being sticky.

I don't recall any kind of label or anything getting in there. What's also interesting is that a while ago the exact same thing happened to a friend of mine. Is this a known issue?

It's an old Lite-On drive if that makes a difference.

 

[deadlockedworld]

Do you have children? ...

 

[Ragnorok64]

Do you have children? ...

Oh God, no.

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. IS there any part in a disc drive that would normally be held in place by some form of industrial adhesive?

 

[Onus]

Do you have children? ...

ROFLMAO!

Whatever it is, it isn't normal. Replacement drives are cheap, probably better to replace it that risk screwing up your media (e.g. from scratching it cleaning the gunk off).