You're going to need to take your entire laptop apart. Dell's arent too bad - as far as laptops go, but you're going to probably have to take every screw out of the bottom. If that doesn't do it, then you try getting the plastic top and keyboard off (in most dells you can remove the keyboard). Basically, even if there was an easy way of getting the cdrom out, it's still plugged into the motherboard, so you're gonna have to take it apart anyway. I did this years ago, so I don't remember the specifics. Just take the entire thing apart, and in a couple hours you'll have the cdrom out. Expect to cause minor cosmetic damage taking it apart (something plastic always gets dinged, or a hidden plastic tab breaks, or something of the sort).