Disk drive won't read disks

Hi there,
I've had my Mac Mini for several months, and starting fairly recently, it only reads about 1 out of 5 disks I put in on the first try. It accepts the disk and sounds as if the laser is about to move to read it, but then the lazer gets stuck. I can hear the motor working to try and move the lazer, but again, it seems to be jammed. After about 30 seconds of it trying to read the disk, it gives up and ejects the CD.
As a note, I've been able to read music CD's, burned CD's, and installation CD's for software before, but more and more frequently it doesn't read the disc.
Thanks for any and all help.
- Itsa

Hmm...not sure if this was the proper forum. Sorry if it isn't.
Thanks.

Similar Messages

  • DVD drive won't read disks at boot

    I have a Paviliton DV6-2113sa running Win7 HP  64bit. 
    I removed Acronis True Image and when I rebooted I got a BSOD at the point when the coloured balls should merge into one.
    I thought OK, put the system repair disk into the DVD drive and boot up, but the drive is failing to read any recovery dosks. I think the drive has packed up as I haven't used it for some time.
    Can I use any replacement drive in this model or must I get the same one again?
    The drive light flickers as though it is reading data but it doesn't 'spool up' to speed and I don't get the 'press any key to load from DVD'.
    The BSODs are a seperate issue which I think running a system repair will fix but I can't as the drive won't read data.
    Is it possible to put the repair disk files onto a 4gb USB stick and if so, how do I do it?
    Thanks.

    Hi Peeps
    I had exactly the same problem with my Macbook, again from the UK. Really weird though as would intermittantly read DVD film's which worked fine previously.
    Well.... Took it to my local Apple store and saw a genius and anyway they replaced the super drive and logic board (surprised about the logic board!).
    But just got it back today and the DVD drive is completely fubard so is being returned tomorrow to get this sorted!
    Moral of the story, sounds like a drive or board problem. Will keep you updated when I get mine back
    Macbook 2Ghz, 512Mb, 60Gb, Superdrive   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

  • My disk drive won't accept disks at all, not even a little to spit them out.

    My disk drive will not accept disks at all...there is no disk stuck in there, but nothing happens when I try to insert a disk into my disk drive.
    The disk won't even go in the drive a little bit...it's like something is blocking the drive, but I know nothing is in there.
    Any ideas on what this may be or what to do to correct it?

    It sounds like the lens on your optical drive is dirty. Use a cleaning DVD or wrap a microfiber cloth around a credit card and carefully slide it in and out a few times.

  • My Disk Drive won't read my DVD or CD's

    Basically, my Macbook Pro won't "suck in" any disks.. It won't recognise them or anything.. Help?

    Look at your System Profiler
    Apple in upper left corner>System preferences>About this Mac>More Info>System Report>Hardware>Disc Burning
    is the DVD drive being recognized here?
    Also >>>>>Hardware>Serial-ATA
    is the drive being recognized ?

  • Hard drive won't read Disk, Firewire or Disk Utility

    Everything with my computer seems to work fine on start up. However when I insert a disk, attach a firewire drive or try to download an update it fails. When I go to disk utility or try Onxy to repair permissions the programs runs forever and never sees the hard drive. Any suggestions?

    Hi! This sounds like logic board or hard drive problems. Try running the hardware test disc that came with your computer or that may be on the install disc. Tom

  • IMac G5 disk drive won't "swallow" disks

    I tried to put a DVD in today and where it usually just swallows in the disk the disk just stays there. I don't really know what to do, i tried restarting and using other disks but still the same problem.

    Could there be one stuck in there already?

  • Macbook won't read disks!

    my macbook won't read disks, it justs ejects it immediately after insertion.  It's a software based issue because I have my hard drive partitioned with linux mint, and on the linux os all disks work with no problems.  It might be a red flag but I ran an executable file earlier labeled nocd.  On the other hand though acouple days ago I inserted a disk for an apple tech utility and it just ejected the disk immediately as well which was the first time this happened, but i didnt think anything of it because I assumed the utility just wasn't compatible with my computer.  I work at a help desk for a university so i thought maybe because it was not a university owned computer, I don't know, i'm not sure what my logic was there. but reguardless what i've tried was to kill backround processes involved with disk mounting and letting them respawn, there don't seem to be any unusual processes running on my system over all, after I killed those processes my home directory couldn't be located, I'm not sure if what I killed had anything to do with it, and don't really believe it did.  I know the superdrive is not dirty or anything of that sort seeing as it read the disk fine in linuxmint.  Any suggestion?  thanks in advance for any replies

    Apple Portables: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive

  • I have lightroom.  My photos are stored on an external disk drive with a backup disk.  With iCloud, will all of my photos go to the cloud?  Will I still need the external drives? Is the $9.99 per month for just one year or for always?

    I am an amateur photographer and have lightroom.  My photos are stored on an external disk drive with a backup disk.  With iCloud, will all of my photos go to the cloud?  Will I still need the external drives? Is the $9.99 per month for just one year or for always? 

    If the iTunes database files are on that drive, launch iTunes with the Shift key(Windows) or Option key(Mac OS X) held down, select Choose Library, and navigate to it. The computer may need to be authorized to play protected content, and if the library contains rented movies, those won't play.
    If not, import the content to an iTunes library.
    (100371)

  • Drive won't read any dvd ejects it automatically

    My drive Won't read any kind of DVDs, it keeps ejecting automatically after spinning for a while. it's been going on for a while now. please help!!!!!

    You can try resetting the SMC Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support
    and PRAM How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
    If that doesn't help you can try a cleaning disc or a quick shot of canned air. It's likely though that your drive has failed, it' not all that uncommon. It that is the case you can either replace it or have it replaced but it's far cheaper just to buy a usb external drive....just not Apples because it won't work with macs with a built in drive working or not. .

  • HT1338 DVD drive won't read or burn

    DVD drive won't read after upgrade to mountain lion install

    do you have the win 7 cd handy, try to boot into the discs and see whether that works, this will tell you whether that is software or hardware problem. Such failures do occur, due to ageing of laser. 
    Regards,
    Jin Li
    May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
    I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

  • My CD/DVD-rom drive won't read audio cd's

    Since installing itunes on my laptop, the CD/DVD rom drive won't read audio cd's any more! However, it will read data CD's and dvds.
    It didn't stop all at once...it started failing to read the odd random audio cd. Over time, gradually more and more CD's not recognised until no audio cd's readable at all!
    When I say 'not recognised' I mean that if you look in the cd-rom file with a music disc inserted it thinks the drive is empty. The drive spins the disc a few times and then gives up. As only music cd's affected I suspect this is something to do with the itunes software. I've tried the various troubleshooting tips on itunes help but no joy....has anyone else had this problem / anyone know of a possible solution?
    Thanks
    Tiny

    I had the same problem and I contacted a support team. They suggested that I upgrade my computer's power supply and I did. I had a 250W drive and now I have a 350W drive and it reads the CDs perfectly; except for one certain CD.

  • Optical drive won't read certain discs?

    Hello, this is my first post in the community and I am a novice with computers. I bought my iMac in 2010 at Apple and it has been the best computer I have ever owned. But for some reason starting today the optical drive won't read any type of cd's like a user's manual or software install disc. It tries but just ejects it back out. Now the strange part is I can put any dvd disc to play a movie and plays it perfectly with no problem at all. Has anyone had this happen to them or any thought on what is wrong. My wife has a macbook and hers works fine and I checked her system preferences for cd's/dvd and they are the same. I a running 10.6.8 OS. Thanks

    The iMac supports the following CD types if it is one of these types and still won't read then it sounds like a CD hardware or software driver problem. If you re-load the software driver and it still doesn't work then I would then suggest you take it to an Apple store for repair.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=34562

  • DVD drive won't accept disks

    Today I tried to put in a DVD R to burn files and I realized that my Disk drive seems to be completely dead. It won't suck in DVDs. I hadn't used it for a while and I just noticed this today. The only noise it makes when starting the computer but otherwise it seems completely dead. Is there any diagnostic tool that I can run since I can't even put a Disk in the drive ?
    It's a 2011 13 inch MacBook Pro running OSX Lion.
    Thanks

    Have you inserted the disc far enough for the motor to suck it in? It needs to be pushed in pretty far.
    Otherwise your drive has died. At least the motor used to draw the disk in has.

  • Imac dvd drive won't accept disks

    My iMac's dvd drive won't let me insert any disks. It feels like there's something blocking the way in. The eject button on my keyboard doesn't seem to be working either – usually the dvd drive makes an 'ejecting sound' when the button is pushed, even when there's no disk. I've also tried some disk ejecting tricks found in this community. The dvd drive seems to be responding to nothing...

    Try this:
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
    No guarantee this will work but it's a start.

  • Won't read disk

    My Dell died (surprise) and I had all of my data taken from the hard drive (most importantly photos) saved to disk. I now have a MacBook and it won't read this disk. Why?
    How do I get the old photos off this disk and onto my MacBook? I don't have another computer to use, what do I do?

    Pollyprincess wrote:
    it was a laptop, so no external hard drive and no, I don't have the lap top anymore. the person who had been doing repairs(lots of issues with the stupid laptop) saved the info to disk and gave it to me. I let him scrap the machine for parts.
    You still haven't really answered my question.
    "saved the info to disk" <--what does that mean? CD, DVD?
    ~Lyssa

Maybe you are looking for