Lite-On DVD writer tray will only eject when a disc is in tray

I have a Lite-On DVD writer that will not open if no CD is in the drive. I have to use the manual eject pinhole. Once a disc is inside the writer, it will eject fine--open and close as many times as I need it to. It will even read and burn discs once a disc is inserted. SHM-165H6S is the model number of this particular drive. I've even tried ejecting from within Windows along with trying 3rd party programs that will send the eject command.

If I hit the eject button, it will "try" to open but acts as if it's caught on something--a light thump. Then it will reverse trying to open and attempt to scan for any disc.

I know that many businesses will lock drives like this to keep employees from inserting media. I've looked around the tray and the bezel for some kind of a security/locking switch but to no avail.

Can anyone help me with this? This happens whether in Windows or POSTing. I've flashed the firmware to many different versions to see if anyone of them helped. I'm actually on a new motherboard, CPU, RAM combo and have installed Windows 7 RC--I had Win XP before.

And it didn't used to do this. Thanks for your help!