My superdrive failed on my imac so i purchased an external superdrive but my imac doesnt recognise it. any reason?

You have given us zero information to go on:
What Mac with what version of OS X?
What external Superdrive and how is it connected to the Mac?

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My brand new iMac reboots itself without any reason

Hi guys,
My brand new iMac (fully loaded late 2012, 27", i7, 3TB fusion drive) reboots itself suddenly without any reason several times per day. After some testing I think I may have found what causes the rebooting. When I plug (and push in) some usb-devices like external drive or iPhone into a usb-slot (3rd. slot from the side) my iMac reboots. Also when a usb device is plugged in the same 3rd. usb-slot the computer reboots occasionally. My question is: does rebooting problem look to you like a hardware or software issue?

Could be either. Regardless, take the computer back. If you are within 14 days from purchase date you can request a replacement, no questions asked.

Imac shuts down w/o reason

Recently I face the problem that my iMac shuts down without any reason, just like unplugging the the power. I did check the power, it's ok. Sometimes it happens after some hours, sometimes just after start-up.
Does anybody know about that?

Hello Fred:
Your profile does not indicate what version of iMac you are running. Take a look at this to determine if your system falls into one of the categories:
http://www.apple.com/support/exchange_repair/imac.html
Barry

My SuperDrive on my iMac won't load any typre of DVD or CD and is shaded,How about a fix?

SO when I try to load a DVD or CD in the slot on the side, my SuperDrive just ejects the disc. Any fixes out there. I notice that the SuperDrive is shaded in the about my Mac.

You could try a commercially or retail available CD/DVD dry brush lens cleaning disc to see if this revives the drive.
If not, It maybe your internal optical drive is dead.
This is a common occurrence in iMacs. The optical drive is, usually,,the first piece of hardware to fail.
Optical drives don't work very well in the vertical mounted position. That ans the heat inside the iMac are, usually, the cause of a failed SuperDrive in iMacs.
You can either pay to have the internal optical replaced, or purchase an external optical drive plugged into your iMac.These come in a lot of price and quality levels.
iMHO, the more expensive and durable tray loading drives have much better quality and longevity than slot-loading optical drives. You'll have to decide yourself what you want to use ii you go with using an external drives.
Some users buy cheap external optical drives,,knowing in a year or two they will have to replace it. Others, like myself, would rather spend more money on a more durable drive that will last longer than a year or two with regular use.
I'll leave these decisions to you.

HT1296 My drive failed on my iMac and I had to get a new drive but now my iTunes music is gone including all the CD's I added to iTunes, and all of my custom Playlists. All of that stuff is still on my iPhone 4, but how do I get it all onto my iMac again?

My drive failed on my iMac and I had to get a new drive but now my iTunes music is gone including all the CD's I added to iTunes, and all of my custom Playlists. All of that stuff is still on my iPhone 4, but how do I get it all onto my iMac again? I have CD's on my phone that i no longer have the physical copies of so i can't just re-download them all, plus it would take forever! I just want to know if there is a way to get all of what is still on my phone, back over to my iMac with it's new drive and restore my full iTunes library to the iMac with playlists, CD downloaded music, and my iTunes bought stuff, so i can go back to synching the 2 devices without losing everything that's on my phone that used to be on both devices?

iTunes Store- Transferring purchases from iOS device or iPod to a computer
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I have a mid 2007 iMac and the internal superdrive audio cd won't play, the DVD works. Can I purchase an external cd drive that will work with my iMac?

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Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Any external optical drive will work with your Mac. If you want an Apple USB SuperDrive, see > http://www.tuaw.com/2012/04/02/use-the-macbook-air-superdrive-with-any-almost-ma c/
The best option is to take the Mac to an Apple Store and get the Mac's SuperDrive repaired

Since installing Maverick on my 21in. 3.2ghz iMac, cannot upload to any application without it locking up, Aperature opens automatically, my printers don't work and Apple has failed to reschedule a appointment with a Tech on Case *******in 3wks

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<Edited by Host>

Sorry you've decided this is a rant but the objective observer would know that all I want is a solution to at least the 3 issues mentioned. I spent the better part of 2 nights with techs that had me doing all the standard refresh items, i.e. setting the PRAM... and as time goes on my frustration grows. Last week spent days trying to find the driver software Maverick now needs and Apple is supposed to have it and doesn't. So at what point does this become a rant? I've done things the right way had mucho patience thus far and as a kicker, Apple won't let me download Mountain Lion to reinstall and rid my self of Maverick. Tell me, would you complain?

TS1587 I tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks Maja

My iMac won't start up, or wake from sleep. I've tried everything, except for reinstalling the SO-DIMM memory modules. Still, my iMac will not wake up. Turning it on, you can hear the fan run, but the display stays dark. Any ideas what to do? Thanks!

Mac doesn't boot
Can you hear the fans and hard drive and see the white boot screen? Flashing question mark? The circle just runs and nothing happens? Only black screen and nothing else? These can be very helpful to diagnose the source of the problem. [1]
Flashing question mark [2]: This is usually a sign of a failed hard drive. This indicates that boot up volume can not be found.
Black screen: This is usually a sign of a failed logic board. There is no single reason for this and this may be caused by failed GPU, screen, CPU or RAM.
Circle of death/no circle/blue screen: This is usually a sign of a hard drive failure. This may NOT be a dead hard drive, just broken permissions or something
Gray screen/Apple logo/spinning gear or globe/prohibitory sign/folder with flashing question mark [3]: This could be a sign of faulty hardware but more likely a software issue, i.e. broken permissions, failed software update, etc.
[edit]
What to do
First, hold down the option key (also known as the alt key) just after you've pressed the power button. This should show all the available options to boot from, so if you have Windows installed through Bootcamp or a disk in your SuperDrive, you should be able to see them along with your OS X drive/partition. Select the OS X partition with arrow keys and press enter. Startup key combinations
If that doesn't help continue doing the steps from below:
1. SMC reset [4]. Shut down and unplug all cables including power cord for at least 30 seconds and then plug in power cord and keyboard/mouse.
2. PRAM reset [5]. Hold down option, command, P and R while booting. Start it when you hear the sound and don't let go before it reboots.
3. Safe boot [6]. Hold down shift while booting to boot into safe mode. If this works, open Disk Utility from Utilities and repair your permissions and verify the disk
4. Hardware test [7]. Insert the install disk (disk 1 in Mac which shipped with OS X 10.5.4 or earlier, disk 2 if shipped with OS X 10.5.5 or newer) and hold down "D" before the grey boot screen opens. Follow on screen instructions
5. Boot from install disk. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac. Hold C while booting. Select Disk Utility from top bar and repair permissions and verify the disk. Reboot normally and see if it works now.
6. Boot from another Mac (Firewire target disk mode). Connect the machines with a Firewire cable. Power on your Mac and press T. Select the other Mac's hard drive. Download the current OS X combo update. Run the combo update installer and select the drive that won't boot as the destination.
7. "Repair" OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and reinstall OS X. This should NOT erase any data, just replaces the system files which may have caused your booting problem. Now install the latest combo update for OS X and repair permissions on your drive with Disk Utility.
7.1. Install OS X into an external hard drive and then boot from it [8] and try to copy your data from the hard drive before proceeding. If you have done a backup recently, you don't have to do this.
8. Restore OS X from Time Machine backup. Boot from the disk that came with your Mac and choose the Time Machine restore option. This step will lose any changes made since your last backup but the system and your data will be put back to exactly as it was on that date.
8.1 Reinstall OS X. Boot from the install disk as in point 5. and select Disk Utility again. Now erase the whole hard drive and install OS X again. If you had a Time Machine backup and step 7 worked you don't have to do this.

Any advice for purchasing an External Superdrive?

Hi,
My Aluminum iMac's superdrive is starting to fail and I have been advised by my local Apple repair service that it would cost me about $371 for the new drive and labor. They said that I should just get an external superdrive and it would be a little easier on my wallet(I am an incoming freshman in college so I do not have that type of money on me right now). So I had a couple of questions:
1. Where would be a good, reliable site that might have some external superdrives?
2. If I purchase an external superdrive, and say that I come across a problem and have to re-install the OS X, would an external superdrive be able to do that without a problem? Or is there a certain specification I would have to look out for?
Thanks,
Speaker-Head

You may want to call or email them and ask about whether their 3rd party external drive mechanisms can boot a Mac over either FireWire or USB 2.0. Not sure about that...
I have a DVD (read-only) drive that came out of an old slot-loader G3 iMac. It is a just bare drive that is attached to USB using one of these adapters.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/USB2PATA/
I built a stand for it, so it looks kinda cool, sitting under my iMac. Anyways, I can use it to boot my iMac, but it is an Apple OEM drive (though a really old one), so there may be something built-in that allows it to boot.
Maybe someone else here can confirm that a third-party external optical drive can (or cannot) boot a Mac.

24" iMac won't install any 'large' Apple software updates from the internet

I am having a serious issue with my iMac and neither the people on the phone at Apple Care or the 'Geniuses' at the Genius Bar have been able to assist. So, maybe someone here can:
First - here is the background information about what happened and what I've done:
A few weeks ago when the new iTunes 10 came out I went to upgrade. The upgrade failed it said. So, I thought perhaps Apple was having issues with the new software or something. So, I thought - Ok, I'll give it a day or two.
I come back and try again from Apple.com - no luck. Hmmmm - well, I just happened to see my 'software update' icon pop up and there was iTunes. I thought "Great! Now I'm sure it'll install!" No luck.
So, I think - well, perhaps I've done something to corrupt my profile. So, I create a new profile and try again. No dice.
So now I'm really confused and figure - ok, let me try a partition and I'll try again. Still nothing.
Finally I figure - ok, something is wrong here. So, since nothing is working I backup my music and important files and wipe out the hard drive and start over. No luck. And, in fact - since I had gone back to 10.5.4 or whatever - software updates needed to install to get me back to 10.5.5. Those wouldn't install through software updates OR when downloaded from Apple.com - Smaller downloads like, flash, java, firefox, etc - all download and install without issue.
I decided to engage "Apple Care" and they call me at the time I specified and we begin to do some tests on the hardware and everything came back ok. We tried from Apple.com and software updates again - still won't install the software. Keeps coming back with "Software installation failed" something about the package installer was corrupted during downloading.
The guy at Apple care thinks perhaps its my network corrupting something. This begins to make a little sense and I think, maybe he's right. My wireless router isn't that great so, maybe I'll just go replace it. However, while I'm checking out I begin to think that maybe its NOT my wireless router - because I do have 2 other computers in my house who haven't had issues downloading anything. So, this is unlikely. But, I didn't like the wireless router anyway - so I went ahead with the purchase.
I get it home - set it up and try again. STILL not working. So, I make an Appointment at the "Genius Bar". I take it in - show them the screen shots of the errors and we get started. They try to do the install of either iTunes or the combo update on THEIR network - still won't work. The genius thinks I have a bad HD and takes the computer for 2 days to look at it.
I finally get to go pick it up - excited that I'll have my iMac (which I use for work) back and functioning again. I go pick it up and they decided that it wasn't my hard drive - but likely my RAM. They couldn't prove it was the RAM but figured since I bought the RAM after I bought the iMac that this must be the issue (even though it was up to exact Apple standards and was from Crucial). So, I think - well, while I have a blank slate I'll go ahead and install Snow Leopard. So, I pick up Snow Leopard and get new RAM too and go home to install.
I get the computer home, put the new RAM in, install snow leopard and get ready to work! After snow leopard install is done - it has some new updates it needs to install. And the update FAILS to install again. Oh, and they never replaced the HD.
So, I call Apple Care again - they have no clue. They suggest making an Apple Genius Bar appointment. So, I take it in again. They run diagnostics on it from their 'Triage' external hard drive and everything checks out. He says its probably the hard drive (same conclusion they came to the first time) and said that they would replace it.
I get the computer back - take it home. Everything is up to date. All the software updates were back in place including iTunes 10. However, I still want to test and see if I can download iTunes and/or do updates. So, I uninstall iTunes and download it again. Same problem. STILL won't install any large software downloads. But, again - Smaller downloads like, flash, java, firefox, etc - all download and install without issue. Just no core Apple updates or things like iTunes will download and install on my iMac.
I then took it to a friends house - set it up on his network - same issue.
So to sum up:
I have re-imaged the hard drive several times
I have replaced the ram
I have replaced my networking hardware (even though other machines on the network have no issues)
I have taken it in twice to the Genius Bar and they still haven't fixed it
The Problem followed the machine and exhibited the same issues in store as it did in my home (so we know the problems stays with the machine)
I have tried it on yet a 3rd network and the issue still exists
The people at the Genius Bar told me that If I still have issues then its with my network - even though its been proven it wasn't.
Its only larger downloads like Combo Updates and iTunes that won't install.
Any ideas? Sorry for the long post but its been quite an ordeal.

Yes, I have tried the updates directly from the Apple website and a different issue occurs. When I do that I get various different errors - the most common saying 'Codec overrun'. This has happened both before and after complete software OS reinstalls (Completely wiping the HD clean).
I did a video of my issue on my iPhone. I had to cut it and compress it to get it off my phone without syncing (because I can't sync it since I can't get iTunes installed now). So, its about a minute long if anyone wants to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leWwEoIeXI
And yes, we tried to repair permissions a couple times but didn't seem to have any effect on whether it would install these updates. Again, it's NOT all software downloads/installs. It seems to be limited to LARGER pieces of software. Example: Firefox, Flash, Java and Silverlight have all downloaded and installed without error on my iMac. Apple combo updates and iTunes won't install at all.

HT1338 I begin to download mountain lion update and it fail. Then I tried again and icon shows "waiting" but it never begin to download. What can I do?

I begin to download mountain lion update and it fail. Then I tried again and icon shows "waiting" but it never begin to download. What can I do?

RainbowGarner wrote:
By install i presume you mean add it to the bottom of the machine ?
Yes, and it's rather easy to do too.
Your machine has two slots. These are the specs for a 2008 iMac (if your machine is different then check with Crucial.com and they will match the correct RAM for your machine)
Maximum Memory
6.0 GB (Actual) 4.0 GB (Apple)
Memory Slots
2 - 200-pin PC2-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM
So all you need to do is visit Crucial.com or OtherWorld Computing to order it, and OtherWorld Computing has install videos.
Here is one on YouTube. Easy pleasy.
Just make sure to discharge any static electricity and not touch the contacts, just the plastic edges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb_B3K1Za5Y

New imac doesnt have a dvd drive, how do i ...?

so, since the new imac doesnt have a dvd drive what is an alternative way to watch mymovvies and download cd's ? i think apple messed up removing the dvd drive and people that have/will buy thew imac deserve a refund or something to connect to the imac that reads discs or something.

If you bought an AV on DVD, then it's you who failed to buy the correct product. You can buy lots of different AVs through download.
If you needed a computer with a built in DVD drive, then it's you who failed to buy the correct product for your needs, if you weren't willing to buy the seperate DVD drive.
Keep in mind, you also never payed for a DVD drive in the first place, since the computer's price would have been adjusted accordingly. So you don't get something for free that you never payed for in the first place.

IMac doesnt start

Hello
My late 2009 21' iMac doesnt start :
as i press the start button, it makes the starting noise and then the usual white screen with the grey apple and the spinning wheel appear. But it stays like this and doesnt move, whereas it usually starts after like 5 sec.
Thank you

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive
Do the following:
1. Repair 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.
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.
2. Reinstall Snow Leopard
If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
Download and install the Combo Updater for the version you prefer from support.apple.com/downloads/.

My superdrive failed on my imac so i purchased an external superdrive but my imac doesnt recognise it. any reason?

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