Odd optical drive issue

I have a PowerMac G5 (PowerMac7,3) OS 10.5.8. My problem has existed over multiple operating systems which leads me to believe a hardware issue has arose.
My problem:
I wish to insert a disk into the optical drive. I press the eject button on the keyboard, nothing happens. I press and hold the eject button and the tray pops out then emediatlty retracts. I repeat the eject button press and it does the same thing. The only way I can get digital media in to that drive is to grab the tray when it slides out and hold it long enough to drop the media into it and then let it go. The drive works just fine by way of reading and writing. Ejecting the media also gives me the same fight.
What can I do in order to remedy this issue.
Thanks.

Might try this...
On your main hard drive, dig down into System > Library > CoreServices > Menu Extras. Inside that window, double-click on the icon called Eject.menu.
http://www.creativetechs.com/tips/quicktips_51.html
Menubar will now show an eject symbol.

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Can someone help me with my optical Drive Issues

Hello Everyone.
I know there are a million discussions going on in this forum about optical drives. I have been reading them and trying to figure out what is going wrong with mine and am hoping someone can help.
My spec:
MacBookPro
10.5.8
2.33 Intel Core 2 Duo
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA:
Firmware Revision: AE39
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 0 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
My Mac has never been very good at burning DVDs (no matter the brand of DVD) I often try to burn discs and get errors. Also, many times I will put a movie DVD into my drive only to have it not load and get ejected.
I've tried burning all kinds of DVD. DVD-R, DVD+R, Verbatim, Maxell, Memorex and I get about the same results everytime. Also... when I eject a DVD after the MAC has tried to burn my Mac often times puts a scratch on the DVD.
What can I do? From reading the post is doesn't sound like there is much I can do. I have apple care but... I think I've had my laptop more than 3 years... is my apple care any good anymore? How do I find out.
Is there any kind of firmware update for the optical drive?
Thanks
-Drew

For the burn errors you might want to try resetting your PRAM and SMC controller (this fixed an issue I once had), but the scratching of the disk suggests a physical problem with the drive itself.
I don't know how confident you are, but I replaced a DVD drive in a powerbook and it was relatively straightforward. A compatible drive should be fairly cheap, even second hand. If not get a quote from an apple certified engineer and see if that's more than buying an external drive. I have a full size DVD drive in a firewire enclosure which burns DVDs at 22x and rarely use the shipping drive for anything but watching DVDs.

Help required with optical drive issues on a 2008 Mac Book Pro

I've got a problem with my Optical Drive not accepting CD, DVD etc. All the disks I put in just whirr around for a few seconds and then spit out the discs. First I've read on loads of discussion forums that the symptoms said the optical drive was capput, so I bought a new one and installed it using those very good guides by ifixit. Booted up the Mac Book Pro, all working as previously, put in a CD into the NEW optical drive....same result. So methinks this is some sort of software/config issue. Read a few more blogs/discussion and manged to get the optical drive to read my CD's when I put them in during boot up - works as it should, copies them to iTunes etc.....Ejected the CD put in another one.....back to the original problem.....disc whirrs around and get spat out after a few seconds.
Anyone experienced this problem as well and found a resolution....

Hi Mate,
I didn't do an OS install, I took it to an apple store and made a Genius Bar appointemnt. Explained the proble and after 15min conversation, they diagnosed it as teh following;
The felt/rubber where you put the CD/DVD had gone hard and the friction is causing the CD/DVD to get stuck and be loaded. They tried to tell me that I need to replace the top case (£140+VAT) as its in-built into it or I can use a £3 spudger to push the CD's in......needles to say the Spudger works fine.....Shame I wasted £100 on the new optical drive ;o( Maybe sell teh spare on eBay....Happy days!

Replacement Optical Drive Issues

A friend of mine had a label detach and disintegrate inside her DVD drive. I took it apart and cleaned all the bits and pieces out as best I could. When I put everything back together System Profiler couldn't detect a burning device. The drive seemed to be semi-functional because it sucked in a disk and made noises. Unfortunately, I could not eject the disk and found that I had to disassemble the iMac and drive again to get the disk out. I thought that perhaps the exploding label had somehow damaged the drive to the point the iMac couldn't recognize it so I found what I thought was a replacement on eBay. The iMac had a DVR-K05PA model installed but the eBay unit that showed up was a DVR-K05 (no PA suffix). I installed it anyway but I get the same result: System Profiler says no burning device was detected. The drive was advertised as fully functional but is it the wrong model number? Is the motherboard on this machine faulty or where else could the problem be? The machine works fine except for no DVD drive.

Hi Larry
What iMac, what OS X is it on, what Optical Drive came out, what Firmware Revision is listed in the System Profiler, is it the 17" Early 2006 4,1 listed in your Profile or some other iMac year/model....????
Start off reseting the SMC > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Unplug the computer's power cord.+
+3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.+
+4. Release the power button.+
+5. Attach the computers power cable.+
+6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.+
and restart resetting the PRAM > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.+
+3. Turn on the computer.+
+4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.+
+5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.+
+6. Release the keys.+
Dennis
Message was edited by: den.thed
Woops' that's why they call me "day late and dollar short" I never say your second post.....

New Macbook Pro Optical Drive Issues

Okay. So I'm new at college, and had to buy a computer from the University, which I did. I got a Macbook Pro, because I really do like the Mac OS much better. However, I am having constant problems with my Optical Drive. When I first got it, the drive wasn't even recognized in the System. So I turned it in to the Help Desk, they say it works, I get it back and it doesn't. So, I opened it up and re-seated connection to the board and it works. I burned a couple CDs, installed printer, etc it's all working.
Now, for some reason, the drive is constantly doing something when nothings even in there. It's constantly making noises and such, and it will freeze my computer every couple minutes, locking me out. Even while I'm typing this, it's constantly freezing and stuff. When I put a disc in, it's not recognized. I just checked in the Profiler and now the drive isn't seen anymore. What's going on?? Please help!!

After taking it in to the tech department, I gave up on them and opened it myself. Re-seated the connection from the Superdrive to the main board, and it works fine.

External Optical drive issue.

I bought the Value Line Slim USB Optical Drive from OtherWorldComputing and when it is hooked up to my older MacBook Pro I can see it in disk utility and the system profiler, but as soon as a put any kind of disc in the drive it disapears from both and sounds like the disc stops spinning then it continues to try. I'm not sure what to do. I have tried the optical drive on other computers and it works fine.

Does this drive come with a power source, or is it powered exclusively by the MBP's USB port? If the latter, does it have a power supply port? If yes, try connecting a separate power power supply to it and then connecting it to the MBP. It sounds like the drive needs more power than the MBP provides through the USB port.
If you have a powered USB hub, you could also try that one. It's conclusive if it works; but it's not conclusive if it doesn't work, because, more often than not, such drives do not work correctly when connected through a hub.

Equium L350 - optical drive issue

I have a lovely Equium L350 which I use for very basic tasks such as emailing and a spot of internet shopping.
I am an utter idiot when it comes to anything even remotely technical.
However, I bought this laptop back in May from PC World, Cardiff and have been very pleased up until a few weeks ago when I went to use the 'optical driver' (thing you stick a disk in?!) for the first time.
My daughter had a Barbie MP3 player for her birthday and I was attempting to download all the relevant stuff from the disk and nothing happened.
I'm sure from reading this you can see how hopeless I am!
I assumed I was doing something wrong until a colleague told me he had the same problem with his Toshiba last year and there was a fault with the optical driver.
Anyway, for the passed 3 weeks I have been ringing Toshiba trying to get some help.
I am starting to lose the will to live!!!
I'm put on hold each an every time for well over 20 mins at a time.
I've yet to speak to anyone! I've emailed (received no reply!) and PC World have been equally as unhelpful telling me I have to contact Toshiba direct.
Does anyone have a number for them in the UK for service/ warranty repairs/ help of any kind! I love the machine but the lack of customer service is soul destroying! I'd be so grateful for any sort of feedback!
Thanks ever so much for taking the trouble to read this :)
Sarah

Hi Sarah
May I ask you whats exactly wrong with your notebook?
You said something about Barbie Mp3 player.
How did you connect it to the notebook and what do you want to do with this 3rd party device?
Do you want to put some mp3 files to this player?
Sorry but I dont understand you problem and I don't see any connection between an optical drive (I think you are meaning the CD/DVD drive) and your Barbie mp3 player
By the way:
If there is something wrong with the hardware you have to contact always the ASP in your country.
Here you can find the ASP database:
http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/ -> Support & Download -> Find an Authorized Service Provider
Greets

Bootcamp, MacBook 3,1, usb optical drive issue.

I'm trying to install Windows Vista 32bit using Bootcamp on my late 2007 MacBook 3,1, the internal optical drive does not function so I have to use a usb optical drive but when I use bootcamp to start the installation it does not work and I'm presented with a folder question mark icon, I have installed Vista using my internal drive before.
Even if I hold down option and choose the DVD I either get a no operating system found or no media error.
Any suggestions?

OK! Got it sorted
Here's how...
Boot the OSX Install disc, use "disk utility" to format the bootcamp partition.
Reboot then hold option to select disc.
Press eject replace the OSX disc with Windows disc then boot the Windows disc.
Bootcamp seems a bit buggy.

Optical Drive Issue...

Is there any other way to eject a disc, other then the media eject button. I tried holding down the mouse button, but right now my computer wont boot up so I can never actually restart the computer, I can only force quit and turn back on

A straightened paperclip carefully inserted into the manual eject hole on the face of the drive will do the trick. On a G5 accsess to the face of the drive may require removing the drive from the case.

OPTICAL DRIVE SUDDENLY NOT AVAILABLE

Hi -
Hope Paul reads this post and has time to respond....
Well, from 1 day to the next this NICE HP tower (running Window 7 PRO - factory installed) has decided it does NOT want to deal in ANY WAY with the factory installed OPTICAL DRIVE.
Computer specs:
   > S/N: [Personal Information Removed]
   > P/N: XX093AV
Optical drive specs:
   > Model name:  DVD Writer
   > Model #: TS-H653
   > S/N: [Personal Information Removed]
Attempted solution:
   - Removed it from this computer, connected it another computer = WORKED.
   - Went to HP Support site, used software there to determine prcise model of this computer, clicked link to Software section of HP's site, looked for updates or drivers for the OPTICAL DRIVE in this computer = NOTHING.
Hmmmm.
What to do... What to do....??????
Device (Optical Drive) seems to work, just NOT IN THIS COMPUITER...... :-(
Maybe you'll be able to tell me what to do to fix this unusual issue, eh, Paul.
Thanks - in advance.
Patrick
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Paul -
Sorry for the delay in get'n back to you on the optical drive issue.
Turns out NONE of the attempts to fix it worked. The drive is GOOD. Connected it another computer = worked. Put it back in the original HP = doesn't see it.
FIX = provided client with an EXTERNAL USB DVD/RW drive. Worked perfectly.
Client happy. Patrick happy. Paul ---- hope he's happy too.
Ciou
Patrick

T400: Optical Drive Power Off, Then Disappears

I'm running Win 7 x64 on a T400, and recently installed Power Manager 3.12. Since 3.11, I've enabled the "Automatic Optical Drive Power Off" feature. In Vista, this worked fine, where once the drive was powered off (and the light on it would go off), I'd eject it and it'd automatically power back on. Or, in My Computer, I could right-clik on it and power it back on.
Now, in Win 7, once it powers off, it disappears from My Computer completely. On top of that, the light on the drive stays on, and after a while a different thing shows up in My Computer under "Other" and all it says is "(Powered Off)", but it's not the optical drive. Clicking "Power On" on this phantom device does nothing, and ejecting and closing the optical drive does not get it to show up again either.
The only way I've found to re-enable the optical drive is to remove it physically from the laptop and re-insert it. Then, it'll reappear in My Computer, but the mysterious Powered Off device still remains as well.
Is anyone else having a similar issue? I'm leaning toward the assumption it's one of the many bugs in the Win 7 Power Manager (that along with the Dock Eject Action not functioning properly). I'm at the point where I'm ready to just completely uninstall the Power Manager, as it only seems to cause more problems than it solves.

Sorry to bump this thread, but it seems that this issue is still not resolved. I have just completed an install of windows 7 on my T400, which orginally had windows vista preloaded. Everything is fine, execept for this optical drive issue. Upon auto-power off of the optical drive, the ultrabay slot light does not turn off even though my computer reports the optical drive as powered off. The drive then becomes inoperable until restart, even if you plug in the computer. By inoperable, I mean that windows no longer recognizees it.
Disabling the feature in power manager is not solving the issue however, because that also removes the power saving advantage that this feature has. I have installed both power manager (3.40) and the power managment driver. They were first installed using system update, and I have since removed and reinstalled them manually with no change. I have googled for a solution, but I have only found this thread to describe the problem most accurately. I don't know what I can do to solve this problem.
I have switchable graphics, and the optical drive is a dvd writer,

I have a problem with optical driver

i have a desktop with internal internal disc driver and it doesn't read or recognize a dvd or cd. I cleaned using a laser lens cleaner dvd and still doing sametinhg
ejects DVDS. My desktop is 2006
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CB83C3E3. Can i replace the optical drver? please some advise . Thanks.

Believe it or not, sometimes the optical drive issues are due to the PRAM battery getting low. You are right at the age where it might make a difference. Have an authorized service technician see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't, then get an http://www.macsales.com/ optical drive for your machine.

ANOTHER bad optical drive

Mac Bk Pro (Leopard) less than 1.5 yrs old. Second drive to fail by cycling repeatedly with no disk in it. Only scratch on it was received when it went in for repair after the original drive died.

My previous Powerbook G4 had optical drive issues over and over (and then the logic board died). 'Twas a lemon. It was my "buy AppleCare" lesson learned the expensive way. At 1.5 years, if you bought AppleCare, you're still covered. Bring the machine in again. If a third drive fails, the lemon law comes into effect and you get a new machine.
If you don't have AppleCare, it's still free to get a quote at the Genius Bar. Let them fix it, or perhaps buy an external. How often do you use the drive?
Michael

Optical drive....dead or software issue? How can I tell?

I'm using a PowerMac G5 with OS 10.4.11. Recently I routinely went to put a DVD-R into the drive to copy some archived files for a client, and it froze. I restarted, drive wouldn't work or eject. I got the disc out using the "paperclip" hole on the drive, but now, the drive isn't even showing up in the System Profiler. When I go to ATA in the Hardware section it says "no information found." The eject button doesn't work on my keyboard either.
I've tried taking the drive out and cleaning it, and tried to use the Hardware Test that came on my G5 disc but it won't work. I also booted from a system disc on my backup external Firewire CD drive and ran Disk Utility/repair disk, and it did some repair but the darned Optical drive is still showing as "no information found."
I've since ordered a new drive and I'm waiting for it to arrive, but is there any way for me to tell if this is a software/OS X issue, or if it's a hardware one?

I just wanted to add that this just happened to me on my G5,I put in a store bought CD and noticed it did not show up on the desk,so I decided to eject and I would not. I tried the paper clip method and it opened it a bit but not enough. Then I discovered on reboot that the drive was not even a choice any more.I still tried to get the disc to eject and finally did,somehow,now I am afraid to insert anything in my Super drive,what is going on I wonder. The system did not even see the drive until I forced it open then everything looks fine. I find it too unusual we would both be having the same issues,I dunno.
Check that: I did insert my Leopard install disc and on the next reboot ran Disc Utility,everything worked fine there,eject and everything!

Older enclosure issues w/newer optical drive

Hello All,
Bought an LG GH22NP21 dvd burner and it works fine as an internal in my powermac g5 1.6, but I want to make it work in my old Lacie enclosure. The enclosure is one of the old ones with a fan that housed the original superdrives (in this case dvr104) and connects by FW 400. The enclosure will run the new LG in some cases but has some behavior that makes it a no go (intermittently not being recognized by host computers, won't burn to some sorts of media). It seems that the enclosure is causing the issues.
Anyone have any ideas of how to 'update' an old enclosure like this work on a newer optical drive? I've searched for firmware updates but can't seem to even find the enclosure/product on the web, let alone an actual firmware update. Possibly it's not the firmware that's lacking? Maybe the actual chipboard? I'd love to use this enclosure.
Any light shed on what makes an enclosure compatible with a newer drive would be much appreciated! (Or conversely what makes an enclosure NOT work)
Thanks in advance.
Szucc

Jeff et al,
Sorry for the delays in posts and the resulting stop-and-go nature. Appreciate very much the thoughts and help.
Actually the G5's FW400 is indeed in question as I'm having an issue with Digital Performer that may or may not have to do with the FW card/bus. When editing and mixing (with my audio interface and the data hard drive connected by FW400) I get stopped, routinely, by the colored pinwheel. But the culprit is not yet known and I'm trying many tests; FW may not be the issue at all. But I must find the answer as I can't work with this happening and clients in here are put at disadvantage.
But, with regard to the optical drive, the issue (at least of the failed burning to dvd-r) happens when the drive is connected to 2 different computers, so it's unlikely an issue with the firewire ports/busses/cards on the computers.
So yes, it should be an issue with the old Lacie ENCLOSURE. But is it the firewire bridge? The jury may still be out because I've reinstalled the original optical drive (dvr 104) in the enclosure and the drive is recognized immediately by my G5 (whereas the LG drive inside Lacie would NEVER be recognized). So that points to an adverse interaction between the old enclosure and this newer drive.
My next step, I suppose, would be to try burning to dvd-r with the dvr104 inside the Lacie. If that fails, then, yes, it could very likely be the FW bridge. But if it succeeds then maybe it's the chipset [for lack of better term]? IE: the enclosure itself just simply cannot support this newer LG drive.
So my question is: What makes an enclosure "not support a newer or particular drive"? Is a FW enclosure NOT simply a housing with a power supply and a firewire bridge? Is it much more than that? And what specifically is under the hood that makes an enclosure "more than that"...?
Would LOVE to understand that better.
Thanks again for any thoughts.
Will try burning to dvd-r with the old/original dvr104 back in the enclosure and report back.
szucc

Odd optical drive issue

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