CD STUCK IN SUPERDRIVE - NOT RECOGNIZABLE BY OS - VERY, VERY URGENT.

Question

Hello fellow apple users. I just came back from an Apple Store (irony, urgh) and upon inserting my Snow Leopard Installing CD, it got stuck halfway, so I.. forced it in a little. Stupid, I know.
And it got stuck, very stuck.
But thing is, **general tips** (rebooting, using DiskUtility, Terminal commands, etc) don't work because THE SYSTEM DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE DISK, meaning that according to my computer there's nothing in there.
The OS is fine and all, but meh... I just want it out! Will using a plastic knife work? I already tried the credit card manual method, but it's way too in for it.
Help? It's very important.
Thanks.
Message was edited by: Christine96

Answer 1

How much shoving did you have to do to get it to disappear. If it was alot (like if you felt like the process was scratching the **** out of the disc) then you may well have damaged internal components of the drive and it will require replacing. The techs, knowing this, and knowing that they aren't authorised to open or repair the drive itself (it gets diagnosed by the tech locally and then sent back to the factory as an exchange for a replacement under warranty) will have to charge you for a new part from apple and the out-of-warranty replacement labour and that figure could well exceed $500, possibly by a long way!
If the disc insertion wasn't so damaging they may elect to just open the drive and hope it works ok once the disc is removed. This will cost you about $80-$150 for the labour and will indicate that you've chosen a shop that has nice people running it. The work wont be guaranteed to work if the drive turns out to be damaged, tho.
*NOTE: in either case your warranty for the whole computer will be void after the fix, so things will become REALLY expensive if future repairs are ever needed.
If possible, you should use long flat tweezers to attempt to locate and remove the disc. If you get it out and the drive is damaged, then just take it in and say it isnt working anymore. Say nothing more than that. They'll deem it faulty and under warranty and have it replaced for free, without any further investigation. Dont leave scratches or mark around the slot when/if you remove the disc.
Also try holding down the space bar from the moment you power up till the desktop has fully booted up. Try the previously mentioned method of holding down the mouse button continuously from the moment you power on till everything is booted or the disc ejects. You should hear a sound from the drive near the start of boot, but that isnt the eject happening (its just a hardware check). Keep the mouse button held down and wait till you hear it making more noises.
Otherwise hold down option till you get a series of startup system choices appear on screen. At this point, Before you choose a system and continue, try the eject button and try Command-E and try command-Y
Lastly, reset the SMC and NVRAM (PRAM)- consult relevant instructions on how to do it for your model. This isnt likely to be the answer but as a last resort, stranger things have happened.
good luck