CD drive will not load any CD/DVD inserted

Question

For the past week my powerbook just started rejecting any cd I tried to load into the drive. Essentially this is what happens.. I insert a cd, it takes a few moments trying to read/load it, it never comes up in Finder, and then it ejects the CD just as it would normally. I haven't found a true consensus here on the discussion board or on the internet as to what might be the problem or a solution.
Here is what is unlike many other posts on cd drive issues, below are the problem I'm not having-
The cd does not eject abnormally, the cd does not have any problems inserting into the slot drive, There is not difference between cd/dvd or whether clean/dirty or between factory cds verus burnt cds.
Please help and make suggestions asto what I can do. Though my plan is that when I get time, I will take it to the closest apple store to see what the techs can do.
Thanks

Answer 1

Hi,
I had this problem too and tries various fixes suggested on the forums. One magic tipp worked for my case. In some thread some user claimed a seldomly used drive may have mechanical problems with cds.
My problem:
I got a brand new refurbished powerbook and only read so far dvds, all ok. Today I wanted to rip an audio cd. I took 6 different normal audio cds, cleaned various of them, none worked and was ejected within 10 sec without any prompt. Strange enough an empty cdr would be taken and showed as empty...
My workaround:
I created a burn folder and filled it up with mp3s. Just to below 700MB. I used a normal CDR 700MB and burned it at high speed. It aborted with an error.
I reinserted the disc and the drive tried really hard to read the disk and made unpleasant sounds. Finally it swallowed the just burned disc. With the disk utility I checked the disc, knowing it will report and error and it did.
I removed the disk, and then it took audio CDs which I can now enjoy and listen.
What I tried before (and did not help):
1. Reset some stuff:
a) PRAM and NVRAM
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
b) PMU
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
2. Delete some preference files:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=581490
3. tried to do what is in the following Quote, but I did not find the file, maybe others will
"Dave,
if just AudioCDs cause trouble im most cases a corrupted CD Info.cidb file in Users/Home/Library/Preferences is the culprit: Move it to your desktop + restart: If your problem is solved delete the old file."
GOOD LUCK FOR YOU