Combo Drive Cannot Calibrate Laser Question

For some reason it is saying that my CD burner cannot calibrate the laser for the type of media, and has been for some time now actually. Is there a way I can install a firmware update and it will fix the problem? Or should I actually go to the apple store and get it checked out?
Finally, I was told that it might be because I installed an update a while back for a superdrive and not a combodrive and it might have done this, so is there a way to get rid of that update?

I finally sucked it up and bought a disc cleaner, and now it works fine.

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Differences In "Combo Drive" vs. the "Double-Layer Superdrive" ?

i was looking at the base macbooks on the apple mac website and there is two different white models and one has the "combo drive" and the other has the "double-layer superdrive". is there much of a difference?
also, on those two base models, one has a 2.0Ghz processor and the other is a 2.2Ghz... is there really going to be much of a noticeable difference?
thanks!

The difference is that the combo drive cannot burn DVD - it can only burn CD. The SuperDrive can burn CD or DVD.
Both combo and SuperDrive can play cd's and DVD's.

CD stuck in combo drive – not mounted / not recognized, so cannot eject

A CD which had been recognized and could be played in iTunes was in the combo drive when I rebooted. After reboot the CD was not recognized/mounted, and was not visible in Finder, iTunes, or DiskUtility (therefore, it cannot be ejected).
I rebooted with the mouse button held down but nothing happened. Then I did drutil eject, trying it a few times in succession, but nothing happened.
At no time after the original reboot has there been the slightest clicking or whirring noise from the combo drive. Evidently the system 'thinks' the combo drive has no disk inside it.
I haven't tried to go into single-user mode to try to eject it from there. (Incidentally, I have conflicting methods on how to enter single-user mode – is it cmd-s or cmd-opt-o-f ?) Before I try that, my question is that given that I know a good CD is inside the combo drive, is there any command (in Terminal) that would make the system force it to mount?
Thanks for any info.

HI,
Before I try that, my question is that given that I know a good CD is inside the combo drive, is there any command (in Terminal) that would make the system force it to mount?
Try the suggestion here: http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-4446.html
To eject the CD. Try launching iTunes, then Quit iTunes then press the Eject key on your keyboard.
And, instructions here on how to Startup in Single User Mode
Carolyn

Combo drive question

Hi guys just one question again regarding getting Snow Leopard onto my iMac. My model is the early 06 one with the combo drive and it doesn't seem to read DVD-DL's. Is there anyway I can use an external HD to boot into it?
The only reason I bought this Mac was to get the newest OS onto it and act as a backup drive. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hello iMuffinMan
That iMac will upgrade to Snow Leopard no problem, if you have a retail Snow Leopard upgrade disk.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
Dennis

Protege 2010 cannot start Slimline Combo drive

Hi
I have two Portege 2010 with two different Slimline Combo drive for Cardbus Cable - neither of the two computers are able to start the Slimline Combo drives. Both computer with each different drive were working perfectly in the beginning of September, but none now.
One computer does not recognise the drive at all - the other respond in the hardware profile, that it cannot start the drive.
Both computers run Windows XP 2nd edition.
Thank you
Best regards
Anne Mette Voss

Hi
Do you mean the external PC card CD/DVD drive cannot be recognized in the Windows XP?
Hmm I think Ive got a idea.
I think you should access the device manager and remove the *Texas Instruments PCI card bus controller* and the *Toshiba ToPIC100 CardBus controller*.
Then reboot the notebook.
After the reboot the OS should install a new hardware (both CarBus controllers) and after this installation you could try to connect the external PC card CD/DVD drives again!
Good luck

Combo drive question, I really need your help!!

Hi,
I plan to buy a 9.5mm combo drive for my macbook pro (my superdrive died and I just need a new cheap optical drive) but I have one question: will I be able to use that combo drive to install Leopard (a dual layer dvd) on my macbook? Will the combo drive read dual layer dvd's? Thanks

My son's optical drive died on his macbook. I looked into replacements, and noted that a burner was only $50 more than a combo drive. However, including installation, this was going to get expensive. I bought a portable external drive from LaCie for $110, saving $200+. The portable drive is very small and powered from the firewire port.
If this is feasible for you, it may be a superior and cost-effective option.

Cd-rom dvd combo drive question

Hi folks, I'm currently experiencing probl with my cd-rom dvd combo drive cheepo "rosewill". When I'm playing dvd movie the sound is clicking and it's really anoying.To make sure it is dvd combo drive , copied dvd (vob) file to comp, and then played; Sound was perfect.is this something wrong with my dvd drive or I just missed something ??

definately the drive, tried 2 brand new dvd's no luck. Gonna rma, thanks anyway
Rob

Combo drive not working correctly AppleCare Question

If I decide to take the system to my Genius Bar will Labor part of replacing the current drive with a superdrive be covered by my AppleCare Plan? Also is there anyway for me to know the price of a superdrive at the Stamford CT Apple Store?

if your combo drive has suffered a manufacturers defect then your combo drive would be covered if you are within your applecare coverage period. There are no upgrades.

Replacing combo drive with super drive

I think my iMac G5 needs a new optical drive, because I frequently get the error "failed to calibrate the laser power" when trying to burn from iTunes. (Yes, I've tried all the usual remedies: Different media, cleaning the lens, changing the burn rate... The Apple store genius say they see this "a lot," and it's probably the drive.)
My G5 has its original combo drive, but I've never burned a DVD and don't expect to with this machine. So my question is: Would there be any problem in replacing the combo with a super drive? Would the OS be able to "recognize" the different device and adjust for any differences?

You're right -- I had super and combo reversed. (Actually, the website I was looking at when I posted had them reversed.) I currently have the super drive (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845) that came with the iMac.
I can get an Apple combo drive replacement for $95 or a super for $145. There will not be any labor cost. So what I'm considering is replacing the super with a combo. I'm set on keeping it internal. My only concern would be that the change might cause some sort of system errors.

Mac Book 1.83ghz w/combo drive-using external Superdrive??

OK, I hope this isn't a dumb question. I am going to buy a Mac Book tonight. I was going to buy the 2.0ghz because it had a Superdrive, but then I realized I have an almost new DVR-110 at home, so I could just get the 1.83ghz with the Combo drive. It is my understanding that with iLife 06, I will be able to use an external dvd burner. Here's my question if anyone knows.
Because this Mac Book will be sold as the combo drive model, will it have iDVD installed? It seems I remember that iDVD cannot install if there is not an internal dvd burner.
If this is the case, does anyone know how I would install it? I would assume that the iLife discs will come with the purchase.

Thanks Rob,
I know the DVR-110 works, I have it installed on an older G4 that is close to dead (power up issues).
My plan is to pull that DVR-110 out of there, put it in an external enclosure and use as external burner for the Mac Book. I think that'll work now that you've enlightened me on the iLife 06 pre-installed status of the Mac Books. Thanks for that:)
Can't wait to get to the Apple store!

Could iBook G4's combo drive read DVD+RW discs?

I want to know whether it can read these ones or not.

Nie Hau!
To answer your question, yes. A combo drive CAN read DVD+RW disks. It cannot write to them, however. You would need a Super Drive for that.
Ted

Strange HDD size and loud combo-drive

Hi there,
just one question about my new iBook.
I ordered one with 80 GB hard drive and a combo-drive, since I do not need to burn dvds with a laptop.
But finder shows just a capacity of 74 gb. I do know that the hard drive vedors use the decimal system instead of bits, so 80 gb is a bit less. But ought it be about 78 GB?!
Furthermore my combo drive is really loud. Is this a normal behaviour?
Just another issue I faced... I ran the hard drive checking programm (sorry, do not know the correct english name...) It told me there were wrong volume acessrights. I did not change anything, just looked around and surfed with safari, so can there be wrong acess-rights?
I made another volume-acessrights-scan again today, there are still errors. Same with "Check volume", but I read here in the board, thats because I have to run the utility from the tiger-install-disc.
Alex

Welcome, Rumo. You have posted on the G3 iBook board, but we are friendly here, too.
Your stated drive size sounds about right. Remember,
1 gigabyte = 1 073 741 824 bytes so the actual functional capacity is always less than the manufacturer's stated size.
I can't say whether G4 combo drives are loud, but G3 ones are.
Finally, it is normal to find that a lot of permissions need repairing when you run Disk Utility for the first time. And, there are always recurring notices "we are using special permissions." Don't bother with "verify permissions" (access rights) on Disk Utility--head straight for "repair permissions." You are correct in saying that you cannot Repair/Verify your hard drive when you are booted from it.

Combo-Drive Dead?

I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this question but it never hurts to ask. About 5 minutes ago I put a DVD in my Combo Drive and my PowerBook just shut off completely. I restarted it and tried using open Firmware to eject the DVD but open firmware just gives me an error that it cannot find an eject device. So I let it boot up and when I logged in it said my clock was set wrong. That leads me to believe there was a power surge. It seems to work just fine now except my combo drive doesn't appear in system profiler and holding the eject key doesn't even bring up the eject symbol. So I'm guessing I'll need to have it seriviced and buy a new copy of the Bourne Supremacy. Anyone have any similar problems?

Mine died. Had to replace it. There's a protocol you can follow to reset the power manager which may be your problem. You might want to try it first.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449
Powerbook G4 12, 1.33 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.5) 1.25 Gig RAM

Combo Drive Problems

I just installed the IDE CDRW/DVD combo drive and the PowerDVD software that came with it. Unfortunately I cannot seem to get my DVDs to play correctly. After about 10 minutes the playback goes buggy on me. It sort of crashes. By that I mean the DVD will go start over at the beginning (the studio logo part). I played the disc on two other players and it works fine. I also tried using another disc, and I experienced the same problem. The thing kind of resets. Further attempts have resulted in crashes and lock ups. I attempted playing the disc with PowerDVD and Windows Media Player. I made sure the drive was set to DMA and I did flash the drive BIOS. The hardware manager for the OS says the device is functioning properly. Anybody have any suggestions? Is this a hardware or a software issue?

Okay, I reinstalled the OS, installed WinDVD 4 and tested the discs. So I concluded that the problem was solved by reinstalling the OS. I assumed it would be safe to install PowerDVD 5. I did that and tested the disc and look what happens. Same old problem. I uninstalled it but still have the same problem! All that hassle of backing up my old data, reinstalling the OS...and the suffering. Oh the suffering.
At this point I think I'll just roll over and play dead. Fine...I can't watch Underworld on my deskbox past chapter 3...strangely, Matrix used to skip backward too, but that problem seems to have gone away.
I saw Wonkanoby's post about the new Nforce drivers...I picked those up...no help. I've pretty much done everything I can think about. At one point I've even taken the drive back and exchanged it for a new one. All updated drivers...DirectX 9...WinUpdated all current...really, nothing I can think of short of getting a new drive. But...it works fine for some discs?!
I think I'm going insane...man...look at this thread...I must be insane...I've spent a great majority of it talking to myself...

I have a G3 700 MHZ dual usb combo drive TRYING to install 10.4 TROUBLES!

hello
this is my first apple mac and i bought a ibook g3 powerbook which is:
700mhz processor 512k level 2
128mb SDRAM + 256mb stick
20GB ultra ATA hard drive
combo drive
400mpbs firewire port
video VGA
originally i tried to do a COMPLETE new install of 10.4 which the CD install completely wipped the laptop for before new install. the 10.4 disks installed and showed as installed on the hard drive as it took up about 3GB of space... i then went to restart computer like it requests but i got an UNHAPPY face and a QUESTION mark! i tried booting up from OS X cd selecting the hard drive but kept getting the same results...
can anyone help or say why it wont load???
i then reinstalled the original 10.1 disks i got with the laptop and i then tried to...
...update it to 10.2.4 from 10.1 and it worked absolutely great :O)
(i thought i'd try going though all the upgrades to get to 10.4...
i then got a 10.3.4 disk this is when problems happened again, i loaded disk first time i did an upgrade install and i did custom install (i didnt want printer drivers and languauges on so disabled them) about 10 mins later came up with error while installing so i quit install, restarted G3 and reset cd off again to upgrade....
the second time i forgot to deselect printer drivers and while installing them 'narna' froze. so i had to put power plug out to get it to restart up.
i switched back on and got a grey language screen telling me to press power button to restart. thats all i got...
i've tried option button with disk so i can select the drive from which to start it up and my drive is there with 10.3 on it with a red cross on the box. if i selected that drive to boot G3 up from it restarts computer and then while it loads i got the grey apple screen and then it freezes again but this time i got lots of grey/white lines across the screen...
so i THEN AGAIN wiped it and i am now back to 10.2 version and wanting to try upgrading to 10.3 if anyone knows reason it wouldnt work
OR
if someone can help me get 10.4 on it. i know the RAM may seem low but it is enough to install as the cds/books say it is...

hi ronda,
i've 1GB RAM in the mini. but that's not the problem.
even on my G5 1,6GHz powermac with 3GB RAM you can't play any of those heavy flashgames like farmville, frontierville or treasure isle. takes forever until they've been loaded by the browser and when you try to move your avatar and do some game action it will at best move in slow motion or you will get the spinning beachball until finally browser or flash plugin crashes.
so that's for a G4 mini and a G5 powermac. the OP asked if farmville could be run on a G3 700MHz ibook. it's a no go. sorry.

Combo Drive Cannot Calibrate Laser Question

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