IMac not reading Cd's...but DVD's ok.

I realize this is not new. I have been reading as many posts as I can, w/many people listing thru iTunes. I have tried, & so has everyone else that I have read, just about everything.
Maybe it is just me. But I am not sure it has to do w/iTunes as much as possibly OS X Lion update? My iMace read & played CD's just fine before I decided to update to Lion. DVD's were not a problem & still not. However, I had to, unhappily, purchase Snow Leopard (if my memory serves me right, which it usually does a left, due to being blessed w/ADHD...), before I could upgrade to Lion...talk about a rip...but I'm not even going to waste anytime on that one b/c it's done & over with. However, the only reason i bring it up is b/c I don't know if there was a problem w/Snow Leopard before installing Lion, b/c I didn't bother using Snow to play CD's, or anything for that matter (just some food for thought as this just popped in my head...anybody wonder why we had to purchase a CD for Snow Leopard, but then download Lion...? Maybe there was/is an issue concerning CD's betwixt the two? Maybe somebody already looked into this. I don't know as I am new to this forum stuff, & being 57 yrs young I don't see myself going on them too often except on an as needed basis.) Anyways, I digress, which happens often despite my meds.
Bottom line is, there was no problem before the Lion upgrade. And I just noticed the CD problem now b/c I finally found a copy of Arthur Fiedler's Boston Pops Orchestra's Christmas music, which I grew up listening to. And so as I put my shiny used (courtesy of Goodwill...now before you go making any assumptions...and you know what assumptions do...I have also since that failure, tried brand new store-bought CD's as well, & nada...same thing:
***"whirl-spin-clickity-clack-wind-down-silence...whirl-spin-clickity-clack-wind -down-silence...whirl-spin-clickity-clack-wind-down-silence...spit out CD-no questions-asked"***
not even an error dialog box like saying invalid disc or something.
Now, come to think of it, since the update, I have had some DVD issues as well. All of a sudden it would, after playing some movies, maybe 3 or 4, it would all of a sudden say, when I would put in the next unsuspecting victim, some sort of an invalid error...imagine that, calling my CD's invalids. Why, they've never been on crutches or in wheelchairs before in their little eternal lives which just happens to remarkably resemble the international sign of the donut! Anyways, I just happened to try rebooting my pooter & voila, thar she blows! Alas, my DVD's play again. This problem has been happening at the rate of about every 3-4, maybe 5 movies at a time. Now this has all been since the upgrade. I cannot tell you if there has been an upDATE on Lion, or if iTunes was updated/upgraded same time as Lion...that data is far too improtant for me to be interested enough to hyperfocus on. I can only focus on the strange, off the wall situations that are meaningless & irrelevant. Not only that skipper, but they don't make any sense either! Having said all this, maybe someone can piece something together to figure out what's going on. Obviously there is a lot of people having the same problems since one of the upgrade/updates. I think it would be safe to say, though not 100%, that it is either the Lion or the jam (as in iTunes)...or quite possibly even Snow Leopard, But that's all I know. And what about the conspiracy issue...why did Apple go w/the download for Lion, after having to buy Snow Leopard on disc? Maybe something happened & they just chose to ignore it, hoping it wouldn't show. Well, I've done my damage for one morning. If anyone has any other suggestions, ideas, or actual fixes on this CD problem, I would be very grateful, & so would many others. Of course, since I am so very much Mr. Johnny on the oil spot that this issue may have already been acknowledged by the Big Bite itself. Or maybe something in the upgrade/update blew out the CD portion of the softwar that runs rhe hardware, right?
Appreciate any feedback for the old newbie here...well what do you know..i'm whatcha call an oxymoron...YAHOO! MT DEW! IT'S GOOOD! (Old commercial from the 70's if memory serves me right...or left (as in it left the building before I did!)(Actually I don't even drink the stuff b/c the caffiene puts me to sleep, or the sugar...or (d) both! :-) )
Respectfully yours, doug

Well, I bought a CD/DVD cleaner kit, and nothing happened--it didn't even recognize that the cleaner disc was in there and it didn't do anything.
I checked for an optical drive update, but the only one I found was for older Macs for 4X DVDs, which had nothing to do with CDs. Since even music discs won't mount, nor will discs that mount on every other Mac in the house, Macs both older and newer than my G5 and discs both older and newer, I suspect my drive is toast. Dang.

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Optical drive does not read CD's but DVD's please help!

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Well, I bought a CD/DVD cleaner kit, and nothing happened--it didn't even recognize that the cleaner disc was in there and it didn't do anything.
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IMac not reading DVDs (but will read CDs)

Hi all,
I am currently using the 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 20" iMac, about 4 months ago i had a problem with the superdrive on the imac and it would not eject a DVD i was using. It repeatedly tried to spit the DVD out every 30 seconds or so without any luck. After about 2 days it eventually spat the DVD out.
I was then hesitant to stick anything back in the drive in case the problem occured again. I then bought an external DVD drive and had no problems for the last 2/3 months or so with it until yesterday afternoon. I was trying to install the optional installs from the software that came with the iMac and it got half way through and said the disc was unreadable (which i thought was strange as its the first time the media had been out of the plastic wallet). I then thought nothing of it until early this morning when i tried to play a DVD on the external drive and it spins for about a minute and then spits the DVD out. This happens with any DVD i have tried films, to backup dvds to games and everything and nothing will read. I tried a CD this reads no problems at all.
I then tried the superdrive on the iMac and it also spits out DVDs after about a minute but will read a CD no problems at all but just not a DVD.
Does anyone have any clues to what has happened since yesterday as i used to be able to play every DVD i had on the external drive no problem. I have not installed any new software and there are no new updates to install on the OS and no firmware has been installed (all firmware is up to date).
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HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GP08 LU10 (external drive - its an LG GP08 drive)
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Regards
Christian

Hi Albos, This is a known problem. These superdrives die after a while. See the various threads on this site and the internet. I have the same problem with my Imac 20" 2.16 ghz. Just wants to burn and read cd's. Its has to do with the laser. For DVD an CD are two different laser and the one for DVD's has probably died in yours (as it did in mine). I bought an external LG burner and problem solved. (And a lot cheaper than replacing the superdrive)
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IMac not reading CDs/DVDs

I'm on an older (late 2009) iMac, just installed Maverick a few days ago, but the problem preceeds this. Basically, my computer will not read CDs or DVDs. Any disc I put into the computer, I hear the whirring noise as if it's reading the disc, but it immediately winds down. It will repeat trying to read the disc 2 or 3 more times, then just spit the disc out.
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Another help source (if you haven't already done so).
Go to your OS Help Menu. In the search field type dvd
Click on all the troubleshooting topics & Support Articles that pertain to your issue.
You can also do the same in Disk Utility. Open same up.
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===============
Try a different brand. Top forum favorites
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FUJI
TDK
Verbatim
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Verbatim
==============
Apple's Disc Burning Quick Assist
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and firmware revision D441.
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You will need to take it
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Go to your OS Help Menu. In the search field type dvd
Click on all the troubleshooting topics & Support Articles that pertain to your issue.
You can also do the same in Disk Utility. Open same up.
At the bottom left of the window, click on the purple button w/the "?" in the middle.
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Try a different brand. Top forum favorites
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Verbatim
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Verbatim
==============
Apple's Disc Burning Quick Assist
Make sure the DVDs are not dirty, smudged and/or scratched.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2000 Mac doesn't start up from install disc
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IMac not reading Cd's...but DVD's ok.

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