DVD tray on Inspiron 3847 opening at random

atryeu,

It could be dust built up in the drive. Open the system and blow out the dust. You can also boot into the bios by starting the computer and tapping the F2 key. Change the boot order to hard drive as 1st boot device. The dvd drive may be set to the 1st boot device. You can click the link below to view the online manual for opening the case as well as removing/replacing parts within your computer.

Dell Inspiron 3847 Drivers, Downloads and Manuals

Hi Jesse,

I'm pretty sure the problem is not dust. After the warranty was up I started opening up the case and on the 1st of every month I could use canned air to dust the inside out (especially the fans). I used to do this with old computers as well.

Can I ask what the boot order may have to do with it? Both times when the tray opened yesterday had been after the computer had been on for hours. The first time it had been up and running already for nearly 5 hours, and the last time it would have been running for 13-14 hours. Either way though, the HD is set to 1st boot already, not the DVD drive.

I do know how to remove and replace parts already as well (this is actually our first store bought computer and the previous ones I had built myself), however I do not know what the problem is and can't afford to buy a new DVD drive as a spur of the moment thing. I had used the drive last month and again 2-3 days ago and it works perfectly fine. I just didn't know why it suddenly popped the tray out for no apparent reason, twice...

atryeu,

It could be software causing this to happen as well as malware, or a defective drive. Try updating the bios. Run the diags on the drive by starting the computer and tapping the F12 key. Choose Diagnostics.

I have an update to this issue. It seems to be happening when some of the Dell software that came with the computer is running a scan. I was in the room when it happened today and got to the computer quickly enough to take off the screensaver and saw the scan running from whatever the Dell program was (sorry, I forget the name and forgot to write it down earlier too). During the scan, there is a part that checks the DVD drive by opening the tray and closing it again, however the scan is not closing the tray like it should again, so it just sits there staying open. The tray closes just fine if I hit the button myself to close it though.

Also tied with this issue today, during the scan, a Dell process, "sftservice.exe" was using 100% of C Drive to the point where it completely crashed Firefox which I had open at the time, along with the "explorer.exe" Windows process, which completely disabled my ability to shut any of my open programs down. I managed to get Task Manager opened to see the problem process before that too completely locked up and then Start Menu locked me out as well to prevent me from resetting. Ctrl+Alt+Del and restarting failed to work either and I had to hold the power button in to force it to shut itself down and kill the drain on the hard drive. After restarting, that same process that started the problems started in again and was using 100% of C Drive for another 10 minutes or so after restarting.

Is this tied with that Dell scanner that was scanning the computer and hardware? I know the scanner is to blame for the DVD tray popping out and not going back in now, but this was a serious issue with the process using all resources and eventually crashing such an important process such as explorer from running. And yes, the software is fully up to date.

Interesting....I have the same issue and the same model...Dell 3847.  The DVD tray opens at random times when I am not using the computer, and stays open until I close it.  This is when the computer is on, but no programs are open.  This happens maybe every couple months.  At first, I thought it was a virus or hacking/malware, but neither Malwarebytes nor Panda antivirus finds any issues.  Unlike you, my computer isn't running a Dell scan when this happens.  I'm thinking It's likely related to some type of Dell software though, and maybe specific to this model!  I'm running Windows 7 Pro.  It's been happening for close to a year, and doesn't seem to be harming anything, but is alarming when you're in the room and all of a sudden the tray opens.  Our cat runs to it immediately to check it out!  This isn't exactly a solution but I wanted to let you know you're not alone, and it doesn't seem to be malicious.  I intend to ignore it until I can replace the computer.  

Tim389:  I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Mine is running Win 8.1 64bit which came with the computer.

Mine happens every month on the 14th around the same time each day (I forget exactly when though), but I've traced mine down to whatever the Dell scan is that suddenly runs in the background. It seems to only do it once a month and each and every time it runs, the DVD tray pops out and won't close again on it's own.

This seems to be a unique issue to Dell and ties in with their scan in my situation. My last computer was custom built by myself and in all the years I had that one, it never had this issue with the DVD tray. Same with older computers, until this Dell one that runs whatever that scan is. It happens when it's checking the DVD drive for whatever, not exactly sure what it's checking.  The scan it runs is something that came with the computer. I can't find it on the computer for some reason though, or even where to adjust the scheduling of it.

Finally caught the culprit: Dell Support Assist.  This has been happening periodically only in the last year with my 7-year old XPS.  Today I returned to my desk and found DSA on my screen, threatening to run in 1 minute.  When I clicked the settings button on the DSA display, DSA went away and my drives both opened.

Now all I have to do is some snooping regarding DSA and how to control its activities.