Mechanical problem w/ internal combo drive - replacement needed

Combo drive on iMac appears to be failing - works only about 25% of the time. When a CD/DVD is loaded (open/close/tray work fine), the drive makes a lot of noise (clicking) then ejects after several tries to load. If it does load - DVD/CD play fine. This is a mechanical rather than software issue. The current internal drive is a SONY DVD RW DW-U10A. Where can a replacement internal combo drive be bought online compatible with this iMac? Other options/Recommendations? Thank you in Advance for any info you can provide.
iMAC (17" Flat panel) G4 1GHz Mac OS X (10.4.3) Purchased in 2003

Leslie, Welcome to Apple Discussions.You may wish to opt for an firewire external DVD-RW drive. Here's an example. This will be far easier to do; the internal upgrade is not for the faint hearted:
Take Apart Guide
Full Apple Service Manual
As and when you do it you may want to give consideration to boosting the HDD and 'factory' RAM at the same time. You must remember to replace the thermal paste as you close the iMac up.
As for Drive selection: xlr8yourmac runs a drive database. Click this link and enter DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW, iMac G4 and OS 10.4 in the relevant fields and click search. The Pioneer DVR110 seems popular and compatible.
regards
mrtotes
P.S. Please note that you've posted in the iMac G3 forum. In future you will be better off posting in the iMac (Flat Panel) forum.

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Combo Drive replacement cost???

I was quoted $150 for a combo drive replacement over the phone for my G4 ibook. That was if it needed to be replaced, because as far as I can tell the problem is a felt strip that came un-glued.
The store charged a $80 "diagnostic" fee which I thought was going to go twards looking into the felt issue.
Now, they have changed the quote to $400 and said they don't fix drives if they are broken, they just repair them. They said it's a $240 part and two hours ($80/h) labor.
I can't get the $80 back even though they never opened the computer. Their "diagnositcs" found that the optical drive would not accept CD's, which "duh" that's why I brought it to them. They didn't do anything other than try to load a CD.
I feel like I'm being taken for a ride. Bait and Switch. What should I do?
Is it really a two hour job to swap the optical drive?
Is there any way to get my $80 back? If I knew they were not going to look at the drive and charge me $400, I would have never gone in the store. I can get an external combo drive for $69.
thanks folk
ibook G3 Mac OS X (10.4.2) Combo drive issue

Contact the Better Business Bureau and/or your State's consumer protection department about the rip off.
As for replacing the drive, check out the Superdrive replacement being sold by mcetech.com. The drive costs $149 and they have a $49 or $99 installation option.

Combo Drive Replacement?

Hello Everyone,
Since I have my MacBook's Birthday tomorrow, I was thinking of getting a desktop companion to replace my Blueberry 350 Mhz iMac, which sadly passed away 2 days ago.
I am about to purchase a Blue Dalmatian iMac from eBay. I know it has a CD-RW Drive in it, but I would like to replace it with a Combo Drive if I can find one. I know that there never was a "Combo" CRT iMac, but could someone direct me to a place where I can get a compatiable Combo Drive for very cheap ($25-$30)?
Thank you!
-Brian

I haven't come across a Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for the slot-loading iMacs, but MCE Technologies had an internal DVD±RW SuperDrive for $149. That price and the resulting decline in demand for it probably explain why it has been "Out of Stock" for months now. I can only assume that it's discontinued. You'd be much better off connecting a FireWire drive, because it's unlikely that you'll find a compatible, internal Combo drive or SuperDrive for $25-$30.

Disc burner or software not found - trying to burn to internal combo drive

For whatever reason, my wife "Software Update"-installed 10.4.11 and iTunes 7.5 on her aging 800MHz iBook.
Now, as she goes to burn CDs in iTunes, she gets the message "disc burner or software not found"
The mechanism is the stock, internal Combo Drive, and IS seen by the advanced preferences in iTunes, as well as when making a "burn folder" in the finder.
I have repaired permissions as an earlier thread suggested, and even downloaded and reinstalled iTunes 7.5 (and re-repaired permissions), but it's not helping.
???

thanks, but rebooting/restarting, even zapping PRAM didn't help here. (+repairing permissions etc as mentioned above)
Still stuck

Time Machine Problem - New Internal Hard Drive, Now Backup Takes Hours

Need some help!
Background.
Almost 4 year old 24" aluminum iMac; 4 gb ram; 500 gb hard drive; OS 10.6.8.
About 2 months after Alpple Care expired, the internal hard drive failed (New Year's Eve of all times!). Everything else working great.
Had a Mac technician I know install a new 750 gb drive for me. I cloned back from SuperDuper, and was ready to go. The SuperDuper external is 1.5 TB, partitioned - one half TM, the other half SuperDuper.
All apps, internet, mail - fine.
I hooked up my existing Time Macinne (probably not a good idea), and the next backup failed.
Did some research, and since I have plenty of archived backup anyway, decided that the best thing to do would be to erase the TM external, and start fresh.
Did that, and as expected, first backup took a couple hours.
The Problem.
Now, every incremental backup takes 4 to 5 hours, even if no data has changed.
"Indexing" lasts for 45 minues; "Backing Up" reads 600,000 plus files, which also goes on for 30 or 40 minutes (approx.), and wants to Calculate changes etc forever; then the actual backup starts out at 10 kb, and in 20 minutes is at 30 kb and then after about an hour I start getting into gbs and the blue bar progresses pretty fast after that. Then "Finishing Up" takes approximately 2 - 3 hours.
Not right. :~(
What I've Done to Toubleshoot.
First, I re-erased the TM external.
Then reset PRAM and did an SMC reset on the iMac.
Then backed up to TM again. The same problem persisted.
So next, I repeated that process (other than backing up), and I also deleted from the Root Library/Preferences com.apple.timemachine.plist, and from Home/Library/Preferences deleted com.apple.finder.plist. Then rebboted the iMac. Then I did a Disk Utility verify of the empty external - all was/is fine. Then I ran DiskWarrior on the iMac and all was fine; repaired permissions on the iMac from DiscWarrior as well. Then, I did another TM backup to the external, which took a couple hours since it was backing up to an empty drive.
Next 3 incremental backups still take 4 to 5 hours, even if nothing has changed on theiMac.
The Request.
Please if anyone can give me some easy to understand step by step options I might try to get TM working correctly again, it will be most appreciated.
If I've left out any details that might assist, please also let me know.
The problem computer is at home and I'm at work, so if any logs are needed, I can post those later today (but in that event, please tell me exactly which log to post and how to isolate it from System Profiler or Console (as there are many logs to choose from and I want to provide the proper info if someone needs to see a log to assist)).
Thanks in advance!

Pondini,
Did every step in D2 (green box) - except did not reinstall Combo Updater which I did late last night.
After that, did a TM backup - started at 6:15.
All apps were off.
Sequence of events and facts:
At start, 434.03 0f 500.1 GB available on the external TM
Last backup shown - 7:58 AM; Oldest Back Up - Yesterday at 9:56 (that's the 1st backup after I reinitialized the external for the 2nd or 3rd time trying to get this thing figured out)
Upon starting and doing the backup -
Preparing 250,000 (approx.) items (too quick to get the final number) - Parenthetically, this AM it was over 600,000; probably has to do with turning off Spotlight per your D2 instructions
Next message -
Backing Up 6.96 GB
Hung at 2 kb to 90 kb for 20 minutes before progressing
Ultimately, at 1.78 GB the progress bar started moving rapidly (as it should) - so this isn't a cable connection issue - the Backup phase took 22 minutes, but from 1.78 GB to 6.96 GB took only a few seconds; I have seen this precise same sequence repeatedly the past 2 days
Next - Backing Up (the candy cane blue and white progress bar) - Preparing 140,000 items - took 12 minutes
Now shows 426.95 GB available on the external
Next - Backing Up (no count of items shown) - started at 7:05 and went until 7:45 (40 minutes)
Next - Finishing Backup (blue/white candy cane progress bar; no count of items shown) - started at 7:45 - went until sometime after 8:15 (can't give a precise time because I need to sit down and eat :~) )
Backup completed (between bites of chicken) at 8:23.
Over 2 hours - something isn't right.
Also, TM Prefs tells me that the Latest Backup was at 7:44 - odd.
Anyway - to take a step further, here's the TM Buddy widget info you might need:
Successful Backup: 02:06:32.
There is no log entry or data showing.
Just as I sent this, a new backup started, and it appears to be going through the same routine, from Preparing ....
Gotta eat.
Please post any further instructions and I'll do what I can tonight.
Thanks!
What is the problem? How do I speed this mother up?
Thanks!

Internal Hard Drive replacement issue?

Hi,
Last night, I upgraded my internal hard drive from 20Gig to 80Gig, and I added a DVD ROM drive so I can watch movies (instead of playing CD's only). I ran the hardware test disc and everything passed.
In addition, last week, I installed 512MB of additional RAM. The physical installations of everything was really a lot easier than people in the forum would have you believe, but Pismos are definitely easier and a lot more user friendly when it comes to upgrading.
The problem is I don't have any iBook installation discs. I DO have the 4 original restore discs, but when I attempt to do a restore, the restore option is grayed out and inaccessible. The eject and switch disc option only shuffle between image and disc. The HD icon won't come up. Startup without the restore discs only boots up to the question mark.
Obviously, I didn't know that I was supposed to back up the original 20Gig drive before removing it. I guess I can put it back in, back it up, and take it out again. My question is, before I remove the 80Gig and reinstall the 20gig, does anyone know of another option to get the restore option to not be grayed out?
If not, then I have another question. How can I back up the original iBook drive on my Pismo's external 300 Gig Firewire Seagate without destroying all the data I've backed up from the Pismo.
It is partitioned into 2, but one of them is only 10Gigs large as a mirror of 1 of my Pismo's 10Gig HD? If it isn't possible, then I guess I can destroy everything on my Seagate and reinstall it again when I'm done upgrading the iBook. I would rather not do that though.
Thank you in advance for any ideas you may have on the subject,
A Little Fish in the BigMac Pond

Check Apple's Knowledge Base article on restoring your Apple software for links to the proper instructions for your model (which depends upon which software came with it). Most likely, the Restore discs are not startup CD's, so you can't use them until OS X is installed on the computer.
You need the installation disc to initialize the drive and format it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
I haven't used it, but DiskStudio is supposed to allow you to partition without erasing the hard drive.

Macbook Pro won't start after Combo drive replacement

I have a Macbook Pro 1,1 which had a non-functiong Combo drive. I got a similar Combo drive out of a Macbook 1,1, and put it in the mbp. I have the HD partitioned in three with 10.6.3, 10.6.8 and Windows XP on the partitions.
Since replacing the Combo drive the computer will not boot from the 10.6.8 partition, but it boots fine from the other two! I have started it is taget disk mode, and connected to a Macbook and the Macbook will boot from the 10.6.8 partition.
When I try to start the mbp frpm the 10.6.8 partition I get the Apple logo, then the spinning wheel, then finally a stop sign (circle with a slash through it).
Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to resolve this problem?

gim461,
try booting from the 10.6.3 partition, and run Disk Utility. Try verifying the 10.6.8 partition (using the Verify Disk button). Does it come back with a clean bill of health? If not, press the Repair Disk button. When that’s done, reboot into the 10.6.8 partition, but hold down the Shift key to boot into Safe mode. Does it let you boot into the 10.6.8 partition in Safe mode?

Qosmio G10-133 Question about DVD COMBO Drive replacement

Hi
my laptop has a DVD driver labled UJ-830B but the device managaer reports that it is a UJ-830S. I have posted before saying I haven't been able to burn DVDs. It gets part way through then errors out saying unable to burn. I have used various software and disc makes but all to no avail.
I purchased an external burner which burns no problems, however it does defeat the object of having one built into the lapotop!!!
Can anyone suggest a suitable replacement drive? I have already tried an NEC 5540A drive, but my laptop didn't recognise that it was installed. I assume it is something to do with Master/Slave?? If the laptop doesn't recognise the drive I am obviously unable to flash any firmware.
Somebody please help.....

Hi
Seems you have already noticed that the drive replacement is not so easy.
The internal notebook drives dont support any jumpers like the external drives for desktop PCs and the settings are fixed and in my knowledge not changeable
I found some compatible drives numbers but unfortunately, I did not find the drive names.
It seems this are any internal part numbers.
DVD Super Multi Drive
- MATSU****A (G8CC00021610) UJ830
- MATSU****A (G8CC0001S610)
DVD Super Multi Drive (supporting Double-Layer)
- MATSU****A (G8CC00021611)
- TEAC (G8CC00024611)
However, the service partner could provide you a information about compatible drive.

Problems with S400 Hard Drive replacement

Hello Lenovo!
I'm new here so please bare with me.
A little about me: I have been in IT support for over 25 years, both hardware and software side.
I recently purchased a Lenovo ideapad S400 Touch and I am enjoying it. The one issue I have with this computer is that the hard drive is not a solid state. I happen to have a spare solid state drive earmarked for this laptop so off I went to upgrade it.
The plan was to simply replace the hard drive with the solid state and reimage the drive with a factory restore USB key.
These are the issues I am encountering:
1. Lenovo support recommends a windows recovery USB key which does not contain an image of the OS, it is only useful for recovering windows or installing a wim.
2. One Key does not create a bootable backup, nor a wim file, it relies on a hidden special onekey hidden partition created by special software that lenovo does not offer (to my knowledge) and I have not find a workaround.
It's just a hard drive replacement, any assistance would be much appriciated.
Thanks.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi frosted,
Welcome to Lenovo Community Forums!
I believe these guide from neokenchi's post will help.
These are migration options,
Option 1:
1. Insert the original HDD and create a recovery drive (you will need a 16GB flashdrive or higher)
2. Remove the HDD and insert the SSD drive and boot from the recovery drive by pressing F12 to reset the preloaded OS (with softwares and drivers).
Option 2:
1. Use Aomei Partition Assistant Home Edition or EaseUS Disk Copy Home Edition to clone the HDD to the SSD. (Freeware)
2. Use a migration tool like Paragon Migrate OS to SSD (requires a license)
Best regards
Solid Cruver
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Doen't play DVDs -either internal Combo drive nor external drive

Hello There,
When I try to play a DVD with Combo Drive of my iBook G3, sooner or later the picure stops and the computer is frozen– cannot quit the software "DVD player", no reaction given to any button and mouse.
Once I brought my computer to the service, where they said it was a hardware problem and they only could exchange the drive.
Now I've got an external DVD Writer and still have the problem.
(So I suppose it's not the hardware.)
Using VLC instead of DVDplayer, anything is the same. But VLC showed error messages : ffmpg : more than 5 secounds of late video ->dropping frame (computer too slow?)
I cannot believe that the computer is to slow, because it WAS showing DVDs before.
If this information helps : Power PC 750, Processor 600MHz, Memory 384 MB, SDRAM, Bus 100 MHz.
By the way, another problem I´ve got with my Combo is, that it can burn audio CD but no data CD-any trials comes out with an error.
Can anybody help me ?
iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

I guess I'll just have to put a new MoBo in it.
Don't waste your time or money. You'd still be stuck with that tiny low-resolution screen and the wrong aspect ratio for DVD movies. The logic board from the slightly faster FireWire-equipped clamshell is the only other LB that might fit, though from what I've just read at iFixit, it won't. I doubt that it would do much (if any) better than the LB you've got, even if it did fit. A clamshell iBook just isn't the machine to play DVDs on.

Combo drive replacement help plz!!!

My combo drive stopped working suddenly. My warranty also got void last month (forgot to renew, my bad).
Can I replace my MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8123 with a 8121A Combo Drive?
Also please give your suggestions where can I get a good drive (used/new) and also get it repaired.
Thanks in advance.

First welcome to the discussions.
Have a look here and see if this helps. There are several different companies that make new drives available this is just one.
http://www.mcetech.com/pbg4dvdr8dl.html
Good Luck Don

Internal hard drive replacement issue...(a bit wordy)

I am the second user of this white core duo MacBook - the boss's hand-me-down.
The original hard drive was almost full when I received the unit, so after using it for a while I decided to replace the internal drive. I have an external WD 320GB "My Passport" formatted for Mac use that works just fine - it keeps the Time Machine backups on one partition and a Carbon Copy Cloner image of the original internal drive on another.
I recently bought a WD 250GB Scorpio Blue (WD2500BPVT-00ZEST0), stuck it in the computer, formatted it (Mac OS Extended (Journaled), GUID) as a single partition and put the CCC image of the original drive on it. All was good. New drive booted and functioned as expected. Four days later it failed (question mark appearing on restart attempts). The disk utility applications in four different OS's failed to recognize the disk. Short story is WD sent me a replacement, but 320GB rather than the 250 - a WD3200BPVT-00ZEST0.
I eventually got the new drive partitioned and formatted and installed Snow Leopard from my update disk. All this transpired with the drive docked in an external USB dock.
During the OS install I took the opportunity to set it up in my name rather than my boss's name. (was this a mistake and the source of my problem, I wonder?)
I can boot from this newly built drive when it is docked, BUT NOT when it's installed internally in the laptop. It is recognized as an available start drive during restart, and I get the "apple", but the spinning wheel keeps on spinning without actually booting (or at least I get tired of waiting and the fan keeps spooling up - I eventually just turn the power off).
Is this drive, at 320Gb, too big for this laptop to use internally? (but the 250GB one worked)
Did I make a mistake in creating a different default ID (me rather than the boss) while installing the OS? Is the laptop "remembering" the user setup from the original small drive somehow and refusing to work with the new drive's new user?
This is my first "Mac" experience and I really like the way the OS treats me and the "look and feel" of the GUI, but this has been somewhat frustrating. (I WILL stick with it though, I plan on buying a new MBP next summer.)
Am I forever destined to live with the tiny original drive and be relegated to carrying around Passport drive to get most of my data files?
I now have three drives I can boot from, but I'd really like to have the big new one actually usable from inside the laptop rather than sitting in a dock (with all it's cables).
Thanks for reading this far.
Dave
Message was edited by: Dave Swinnard

Dave Swinnard wrote:
Booted from the SL update disk and ran disk utility to attempt to erase the existing data and repartition - no go. Attempts to erase, change partition size, repartition, verify, or repair all met with an error about being unable to unmount the drive.
OK, so push ahead...
He's dead, Jim.
The hard drive works outside of the laptop.
Your USB enclosure probably runs slower or something.
Has there been some (unknown to me) change in the specifications of 2.5" SATA hard drives since the original one was spec'd for this laptop that renders the newer ones unusable?
I prefer to have other people keep up with this stuff instead of me. I buy pretty much all of my equipment from OWC. If they sell it, it will work with your Mac. Even if you don't buy from OWC (but you should), if you buy the same model numbers that they sell, you should be fine. OWC doesn't sell this drive. For me, that would be a red flag.
(WD claims their "advanced formatting" is OS X compatible without the realignment required by certain versions of Windows, but is it possible this is a hardware related issue with the MacBook?)
OWC does sell the "regular formatting" version of this drive (WDGWD3200BEVT). Perhaps it only works in newer machines. The WD support page also mentioned that cloning can screw up the drive. I never recommend cloning except in some very specific circumstances. I do that not because I know something, but because I don't. I'm not entirely sure what those clone tools are doing underneath and if they've been tested on these new drives.
Maybe put it back into the enclosure and partition it again into a single volume. Make sure to use the GUID option. Don't do anything else with it. Put it back into the Mac and try again. If it fails again, get a different drive.

Disk problem persists after hard drive replaced

I've recently inherited a Macbook Pro which proceeded to die almost immediately. It showed all the signs of hard disk failure - erratic crashing, sometimes failing to boot, hanging/going slow. Eventually it completely refused to boot, sometimes showing the ? in a directory symbol - other times just going nowhere.
Starting the laptop target mode allowed the recover of files, but not reformatting the disk.
So I replaced the hard disk, only to find the same problem. When I go to install OSX I cannot format the disk to start the installation.
I also (accidentally!) installed OSX on another computer's hard drive using the other computer in target mode. This worked fine, until, obviously, I unplugged the other computer.
Is this a hard disk controller problem or something?
Any help much appreciated!

I actually just had this same issue when I put a new hd in my mbp. I found this info on seagate, which enabled me to initialize the drive. The link is below. After that everything was ok. Hope it helps.
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=sata-mac-install&vgnexto id=050ae579ea085110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

New internal hard drive replacement not seen - why?

I have replaced the internal Seagate Momentus 7200RPM, 160Gb drive on my 2007, 17 inch MBP- with a Seagate Momentus 7200RPM 500 GB. I used Super Duper to clone the original drive - and the new drive will boot up OK - BUT only when in an external enclosure! Not as the new internal drive.
I am using Mountain Lion 10.8.2
When it is in place in the MBP at start up I get the flashing Question mark. I have tried booting from another backup drive - to use Disk Utility to repair the new drive. but it does not show up! I have also tried booting from OS Mountain Lion on a flash drive - but, again I cannot 'see' the new Seagate internal drive to repair it!
I have checked all the connections (taken the new drive out and put it back in several times) all connections appear to be Ok.
I have tried resetting PRAM - no difference.
So, why does it only work when connected as an external drive - and does not show up when connected as an internal drive?
PLEASE - can anyone help?
thanks
Alan

Hi again - thanks! I recall the cable snaking around and it certainly does look as in your pic.
As I put in my first post - I do have an enclosure and it does work from that. However, it is only via USB 2 so is slow. As I write I have booted up from my Firewire 800 backup drive.
I will explore bot iFixit and Powerbook medic and see if they can send these parts to me - so thanks to you both for all this helpful advice!
One final question - since it WAS working when I first took out the original drive it may be that I have EITHER pulled too hard and broken a connector - or just pulled one loose
Is ther any way I can test? How are the other ends connected? The large block of double connectors to the drive is clear - but I have not tried specifically to remove any other ends!

Mechanical problem w/ internal combo drive - replacement needed

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