Frozen, need to open disc drive, help

my eMac G4 is frozen. I need to reload insert my software install and restore discs 10.3.3 1 and 2 and 10.4 and 10.4.4 but I don't know how to open the drive tray. The screen is frozen. What do I do? I've heard about using a paper clip but I don't see where to put it in. Please help.

Hi, pete and Thomas —
Welcome to Apple Discussions, pete.
Pete, I'm having some trouble discerning the specifics of your situation. There seem to be issue(s) with (1) how to deal with system unresponsiveness (screen/mouse "frozen"); (2) how to open the optical drive's door/tray; &/or (3) how to troubleshoot and address system problems. It'd help if you could clarify things.
For now, I'll try to restate &/or supplement Thomas' very sound advice a bit in each area.
(1) System Unresponsiveness. As Thomas has said, the normal progression in this type situation is:
(a) Unplug and re-plug your mouse and keyboard to make sure they're connected.
(b) Try to ("soft") force-quit applications, using ⌘–option-Esc. If this doesn't work, try to ("soft") restart using ⌘–control–power key (if your keyboard is so equipped).
(c) ("Hard") Force-quit to shutdown your Mac by pressing the power key for about 5 seconds. Note that this isn't recommended — because any interruption in writing to disk can create disk directory corruption problems — but sometimes there's no alternative.
(d) Wait a few moments, then restart using the power button. Note that, in some situations, actually unplugging your Mac and waiting several minutes may be beneficial.
(e) See (2) below for how to open the optical tray during startup. If you have start-up problems ("stuck" at blue screen, gray screen, etc.), please post back and describe in detail everything you observe. KnowledgeBase Articles 106464 and 106805 may help you to begin troubleshooting these problems — but we'll be happy to try and help with this.
(2) If the optical drive door/tray is "stuck" in closed position.
(a) Holding your mouse down during startup will open the optical-drive tray — as Thomas explained. Be sure to hold the mouse down from when startup is initiated until the drawer opens.
(b) Is there a disc in your optical drive already? In the unusual circumstance when there's a disc stuck inside the drive, you'd have to mechanically open the drive door and tray. Very carefully. First, pry open the door with your fingernail. Then, you'll see a small hole below the tray on its left side. Inserting a straightened, large-size paper clip perpendicularly, you may be able to open the tray — but be careful as you probe for the release.
I've done this (the paper-clip method) with previous Macs I've owned, but haven't had any success with my eMac, probably because the door and hole position create a difficult angle. (Only needed to do it once.) In that instance, I was able to actually grasp the edge of the tray and pull gently until it began to open.
(3) Troubleshooting System Problem? Depending on your response to (1)(e) above, I doubt it'd be helpful to pursue start-up problems further at the moment — because it's not clear that this is part of your frustration.
However, your comment that you "need to reload insert my software install and restore discs 10.3.3 1 and 2 and 10.4 and 10.4.4" is confusing, because I don't understand why you'd choose to reinstall OS X 10.x at this point, based on what you've described. The first thing I would recommend — once you've accomplished shutdown, restart, and opening the optical drive to insert your install disc — is to C-boot and run Disk First Aid from Disk Utility (access via the Utilities menu) to "repair disk" — then evaluate/post back your results. Please also note your HD's S.M.A.R.T. status that's listed in the lower right-hand corner of the Disk Utility dialogue box.
As I said at the outset, I'm probably confused about your specific issue(s) — so I hope you'll forgive what's redundant or extraneous in this reply. I'm hoping that something is "on-target," and thus helpful. If not, please post back...
Regards,
Dean

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