thanks, but i #####ed the grease...
i opened the writer, cleaned the lense, removed some dust particles, and tried again.
and guess, what? it worked.
i never used to be able to write these cds (not even when the drive was new, when i bought it), but i can now.
AND it the tray operates without making a sound...
i think i'm gonna grease it some other day (don't have any grease here)
taking apart and reassambling wasn't very hard. it kind of self-explanatory. just need the right screwdriver (which i don't have).