Mac mini refuses to read original or retail install Disc.

Alright here's the full story,
I got my mac mini a little over a year ago. It worked just fine but then one day I put a CD in and it refused to read it or eject it. After a tough battle I eventually bested the beast and got the CD out of there, luckily it was still under warranty and I got it fixed and the drive replaced. Just the other day I decided to try and install a copy of windows xp on my mac mini but it wouldn't let me partition the hard drive. I tried to boot from a disk and see if I could do anything from there but low and behold it can't read the disk, in fact it won't read my retail Snow Leopard disk or the original install disk. To be precise if I put in any install disc the computer will just automatically eject it after a while regardless if it's starting up or already running. I have tried holding down c and option at start up but still get the same result. If anyone has any advice it would be very much appreciated as the warranty is now up and I would very much like to not have to take it in for repairs.

The Superdrives are garbage, always have been. Slow, undependable. I'd recommend an external drive from anyone other than Apple.

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DJG

Try disconnecting everything attached to the Mini except the monitor.
If that doesn't work, try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later. If successful, copy the files to the original account Public/Dropbox.
Isolating an issue by using another user account
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Hi, read that this strangely worked for a few Mini owners the other day...
Stand the Mini on it's side & try a DVD.

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What year mini?
For 2005-2008, see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/mac-mini/superdrive/
Installation instructions: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1176-Optical-Drive /1105/1
For 2009 see: http://www.logicsupply.com/search?searchstring=panasonic&search_indescription=on&x=0&y=0&page=1
Installation instructions: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-Mac-mini-Model-A1283-Optical-Drive -Replacement/1065/1

Mac mini refuses to read original or retail install Disc.

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