Mac mini dead, system disc stuck in optical drive

My mini has died:
less than two years old, light comes on but there's no chime and no sound of the optical drive engaging or self-testing or whatever it is usually doing at boot-up.
I have tried everything I know of:
• re-setting PMU
• re-seating the ram
• replacing the hard drive
• using a different mini power supply
• swearing at it
If I remove the ram and power on it hoots so it can at least tell if ram is present....
At first it chimed/light on but (intermittently) nothing more would happen - no sound from optical drive. When it did boot (1 in 3 attempts approximately) it would run without any malfunctions and diagnosis software couldn't find anything wrong.
Progressively less successful start-ups, then start-ups without chime, now nothing.
The techies I have spoken to all say "logic" board is "highly illogical".
Last time it started I put in the OS Install/Hardware Test dvd to run the next time it would boot but its dead now.
Is there any way to manually eject a disc like with the paperclip hole in the larger style of drive?
I have the mini's case removed but I can't see one...
I'm very disappointed, all my previous macs have kept working for five years or more!

I've been using macs for more than 16 years, I've taken many apart to replace RAM, processors, PCI cards and hard disks. I'd like to think I know what I'm doing...
The problems predate my opening the mini up.
Today it booted up long enough to run the Hardware Test!
(still no chime)
No problems found!!
It restarted again, enabling me to install the OS on the re-formatted hard disk!!!
After that, I restarted (no option to eject the DVD disc) and it's dead again!!!!
Here in Australia I think "service" just means replacing the motherboard, which is more than the thing is worth...

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My problem is pretty lame. A friend of mine gave me this mini-cd-thingy asking me to check the content of it on my macbook, but once I inserted it I realized that it probably is too small to even be noticed by my optical drive, and so it was, and so it's stuck inside there now.
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This is why your user manual says not to insert any nonstandard-sized discs into the drive.
You might have some success by inserting a thin, flexible plastic card or postcard-weight piece of paper into the drive slot and using it to try to guide the disc to the slot while someone else holds the machine up on edge for you. If not, then having a technician remove the drive, take the cover off it and extract the disc is going to be all you can do. Your warranty won't cover that, nor any damage you or the disc may have done to the drive by then.
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Message was edited by: eww

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Go to > MacBook Air, Mac mini: How to use Remote Disc to share DVDs or CDs from a Mac or Windows-based computer
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Rjanyk, welcome to the forum.
What is the make/model of the printer that you are using? I presume that it is an HP printer.
Signature:
HP TouchPad - 1.2 GHz; 1 GB memory; 32 GB storage; WebOS/CyanogenMod 11(Kit Kat)
HP 10 Plus; Android-Kit Kat; 1.0 GHz Allwinner A31 ARM Cortex A7 Quad Core Processor ; 2GB RAM Memory Long: 2 GB DDR3L SDRAM (1600MHz); 16GB disable eMMC 16GB v4.51
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Intelligence is God given; Wisdom is the sum of our mistakes!
I am not an HP employee.

Disc stuck in DVD drive

Hi
I have a disc stuck in my drive. When I eject its stats to come out, sounds like it gets wedged, then goes back in again. Is this as serious as I fear and is there an easy way to get the disc out without resorting to striping out the drive.
Many Thanks
Adrian

Which "model" & "generation" G5 iMac do you have?
Need this info so that the knowledgeable users can provide you with the proper troubleshooting solution(s).
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301724-en How to identify your iMac
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh355.html Getting information about your computer
You can have this info displayed on the bottom of every post by going to 'My Settings' which is located in the column on the right under your name, and filling in the information asked for.
Thank you
In the meantime, see the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58566 iMac (Slot Loading): Troubleshooting CD/DVD Eject Failures
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106752 Macintosh: How to Eject a Disc When Other Options Do Not Work
Launch Disk Utility (Finder>Go>Utilities), select the ‘stuck disc’ in the volume list on the left & then either click the "Eject Button, Press Command+E or choose File>Eject Disk.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11243
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BDAqua wrote:
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That would use the 'drive doubler' idea referred to at macsales.
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Mac mini dead, system disc stuck in optical drive

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