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

Similar Messages

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Tiger no longer recognizes my Combo Drive

    While watching a DVD, my laptop had a bad crash. I was able to restart the computer, but since then, the OS no longer recognizes my Combo Drive.
    When I start the DVD Player app, it gives me the message "There was an initialization error. A valid DVD drive could not be found. [-70002]"
    And in System Profiler, the DVD player no longer shows up.
    Two questions:
    1- how can I restore the OS's recognition of the DVD drive?
    2- how can I get the DVD drive to eject the DVD that is stuck inside my laptop?
    Thanks in advance.

    To eject the disc, hold the Mouse button down, (left one if you have more than one), while it's booting up.
    "Try Disk Utility
    1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
    2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
    Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
    3. Click the First Aid tab.
    4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
    5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
    6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
    At step 4 or 5, does your optical show? Or did it even boot from it?

  • 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

  • Rev. B iMac with noisy Combo Drive?

    Just got a brand spankin' new iMac 1.8 17" with Combo drive. I put in a cd and ripped it using iTunes, but noticed that it sounded like my iMac was accellerating to Mach 2. The sound didn't seem out of the ordinary for what a drive would make, just a bit louder than I'm used to. Of course, I'm also used to having a Dell box sit on the floor, not right in front of my face.
    So, ym question - does this sound like a normal noise to you?
    Jayson

    It's the drive, as well (probably) the processor cooling fan.
    Mine cranks up a bit when I am ripping CDs.
    b Just got a brand spankin' new iMac 1.8 17" with Combo drive.
    You do mean the Rev B, not the Rev C iSight, correct?
    The new iMacs are 1.9 or 2.1 and do not come with a Combodrive, only a Superdrive.
    Why/how did you get it brand new a month after they quit selling them?
    And I hope you got a really good deal as the iSight is $200 cheaper.

  • 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!

  • Combo drive noisy/CD playback freezes

    I've had my ibook for about a year and a half. There are one or two CDs i own that my combo drive has never been able to play-- it makes a lot of noise (whirring, like the lens is shifting around a lot) and i just get the spinning beach ball in iTunes.
    Recently, I've started to notice it making such noises while playing back other CDs, and iTunes has eventually frozen w/the spinning ball a couple of times while playing those CDs.
    It could just happen to be those discs, but i'm a bit worried as this has started to happen over the past couple of months. Anyone else had similar problems, and as a related question, do CD/DVD lens cleaners do anything? Are they even a good idea with the slot loading drive?
    Thanks.

    Ihave recently been having the same problem with Audio CD's only, data discs and DVD's are fine. Not sure why....

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Can I make combo drive into an external device?

    Okay, so I have a 14" iBook G4 1Ghz with a bad combo drive. I purchased a replacement from Amazon but then I looked up the directions for installing it and I am not sure I want to go through all of that. So, I have the following questions:
    Is it possible to make a CW-8123-C combo drive into an external device? If so where can I get the case that would be compatible with that?

    I'd do a google search for "slimline optical drive enclosure." I actually just did one and a fair number came up for USB, but I didn't see any for firewire. They're out there, but you'll probably have to hunt for them.
    If worse comes to worse and you need to do something like reload the OS, and you have access to another Firewire Mac (remember, firewire 400 ports aren't available on all Macs any longer) you could always do the following:
    1. On the borrowed Mac, put the optical media into the optical drive, and let the OS load it.
    2. Connect a firewire cable between your Mac and the borrowed mac.
    3. Reboot the borrowed Mac in target mode.
    4. Reboot your own Mac, holding down the "alt/option" key. The screen will turn blue and in about a minute or so, the drives on your system as well as the hard drive and optical disk on the borrowed system will show up as bootable devices.
    5. Select the optical drive by clicking on it then clicking on the icon that looks like a right arrow.
    The system will boot off the optical drive on the borrowed system, but you'll be able to do stuff like use disk utility to repair your volume, change passwords, etc. Just make sure you're doing this to YOUR disk and not the disk on the borrowed system.
    When you put a Mac into target mode, it really just turns the computer into one big firewire interface to the computers drives whether they be optical or hard disk.
    It's obviously not the most convenient way to do stuff but in an emergency it can do the trick.
    Hope this helps.

  • Replace Combo Drive with Superdrive

    2 years ago I bought this Pbook G4 with Combo Drive. Then, during "our" journey, I found out that this Combo Drive was not quite satisfied me. So I have plan to upgrade/replace the Combo Drive to Superdrive.
    My question: is it worth to replace my old Combo Drive with Superdrive? And do you know how much does it cost? Including labor?
    Many thanks.

    Ok, thank you for the infos.
    It'll cost me Rp. 2,5 million plus Rp. 200 thousand (labor) for trading my old combo drive with new superdrive. It's a little bit expensive here.
    I live on Jakarta, Indonesia.
    Note:
    Rupiah=Indonesian Currency
    US$1=Rp. 9.000 (more/less)

Maybe you are looking for