IMac will play DVDs but not CDs

My 2009 iMac will play DVDs but not CDs (bought music CDs and burnt CDs). The last time I tried (successfully) was December 2013. Can anyone help?

Start a new topic and don't hijack this one. You're problem is different from the OPs. When you start the new topic give your system version, iMac year and model and what type of CDs you can't read, i.e. commercial or those you created yourself. Also if you can read DVDs.

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Imac G5 Play Dvd but Not Cd

I have a Imac G5 with a superdrive and if will play DVD but not CD. Anyway i can fix this?

Two ways that might fix it (the superdrive uses different lasers for CDs and DVDs):
1. Clean the superdrive with a proprietary lens cleaner that uses tiny brushes.
2. Reset the SMU:
Resetting the SMU on a G5 iMac:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1767

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I have a satellite a305-s6872 that will read dvds but not cds. It was reading cds the last time I tried (October) but now it's not. This means that I can't play or burn cds. It also means that I can't install any programs that come on a cd. Please help!

I have the same problem. It reads DVDs, and rejects CDs, even perfect/new CDs.
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All of a sudden my 2nd hand eMac (G4 (3.3) 1GHz 1GB RAM) has stopped accepting CDs. When I insert either a music CD or a blank disk it sounds as if the Mac is trying to access whats on it but then spits it out.
This started a few days ago when the sound quality started to go in the middle of a Megadeth disk (no comments please!).
It does still accept and play DVDs perfectly well.
I've tried a number of things: repair permissions; resetting pram and nvram etc. I can't clean it because the same thing happens with the cleaning CD!
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cheers,
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hi steven-
i would try a number of things before purchasing an external burner. first try booting to open firmware by holding apple-option-o-f and type in the following commands--
set-defaults (hit return)
reset-all (hit return)
the second command restarts the computer. even though part of the firmware would have been reset by your prior troubleshooting, this is more extensive. as well, try resetting the pmu. instructions are located in step 6 of this article. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=34885 your emac is a later model than this, and the button is located on the right, not the left side. another thing you could do is booting to the install disk and running disk repair. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214 make sure it is the install disk for the current operating system. let me know if any of this makes any difference. good luck. [ 8 ) ]

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I've got a 4yr-old Toshiba Satellite laptop (Model: A210-12U) which I recently restored using the recovery CD - it's running Vista SP2.
Please bear with me as this may be a long-ish story, but it helps to explain my problem.
Around a year ago, a virus made its way onto my laptop and almost destroyed the OS - I'd consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable software-wise having studied IT at college, and so set about the long process of trying to fix my laptop without resorting to the recovery CD.
It was a patch job, but after a month or so I had it working again and it was fine for a further few months or so, before I noticed that my DVD RW Drive would no longer read and/or burn CDs. I spent hours trawling internet forums for help without any luck and was subsequently convinced that it was a hardware problem.
As I needed to use a CD burner, my cousin lent me his USB DVD RW drive and this didn't work, meaning that logic suggested it wasn't a physical problem with the drive, rather that it was more likely a problem with the registry/OS. This wasn't surprising seeing as I'd done a basic patch job following the virus infection a few months earlier.
After becoming increasingly frustrated with my laptop in general, I backed up my data onto a portable HD and used the recovery CD which came with my laptop. The laptop booted the CD up when it was outside of the OS (as per the instructions that came with it) and restored the entire computer to its original state (and solving a lot of the problems that were caused by the virus in the process).
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However, the drive itself will still read DVDs which suggests it could be a physical problem with the drive itself (I read somewhere about the laser having to change its angle accordingly when reading CDs and DVDs). I question this however, as the computer was able to read the recovery CD when I was in the process of a complete restore (and it was having the same difficulties reading CDs in Windows before the restore).
I've tried all the methods suggested in similar posts on this forum - Microsoft Fix It, Uninstalling the drivers etc. to no avail... So yes, I am pretty much stumped and am wondering if anyone can help?
The DVD RW Drive is listed in the Device Manager as HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T20N ATA Device.
Thanks,
Ben

Hi Ben
In my opinion it is hardware related issue. You are right about lens position. It must be calibrated for CDs and also for DVD. If the optical disc drive cannot read one of these medias in general it can be lens calibration problem.
To be honest ODDs for this old A210 are not expensive anymore. I recommend you to buy new one or used one on eBay. Exchange it and test the functionality.
To be honest I dont believe there is some trick that can help you to get it working again.

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after updating iOS on my iPod touch 4th gen my Philips speaker dock DC290B/37 no longer charges the iPod. It will play music but not charge, is there anyway to find out if Apple is working on an update/fix?

Try:
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Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
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Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
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Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Probably the SuperDrive is damaged, if it doesn't allow you to burn DVDs. You have two possibilities:
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2. Buy an external optical drive for your iMac

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Superdrive reads Dvds but not cds?

I am a new convert from PCs. 2 days ago I bought a new Imac G5 it plays dvds without a problem but when I put in a blank CD or even a regular CD it takes about 30sec and just spits it out. It doesn't even show up on the desktop? Whats wrong? I update the mac. Some1 Plz help!!!

In the System Preference panels, there is one named CDs & DVDs
and it is possible the computer has been set to Ignore or eject blank
media of this type; since that option exists in this control panel.
System Preferences should be available in the menu beneath the
Blue Apple, and also in the Dock.
{PS: Where did you get a 'new iMac G5' in these days of Intel® iMacs?}
Good luck & happy computing!
edited.

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Can you help?
Just recently my combo drive which is a MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8122:
Firmware Revision: BA21
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Welcome to the Apple discussions.
When you click on system preferences (light switch with the apple on it) and then click CDs & DVDs, what does it say for when you insert a blank/music/picture CD?

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Thanks - so does that mean a SuperDrive has two different lasers, one for CD media and the other for DVDs? I guess I assumed there would just be one (for the DVD) that was downward-compatible so it could also read CDs.
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http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302828

Can Mount DVDs but not CDs!

The subject line says it all. DVDs mount fine, CDs try for a while, then are ejected.
Suggestions would be appreciated.

Welcome to the Apple discussions.
When you click on system preferences (light switch with the apple on it) and then click CDs & DVDs, what does it say for when you insert a blank/music/picture CD?

IMac will play DVDs but not CDs

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