Optical drive not working only ejecting DVDs

Hi guys, I have a Macbook Unibody model no MacBook5,1. The thing is a month back the optical drive stopped working. I insert a DVD, its tries to read it for about 15 seconds and ejects it. Now the funny thing is last night i tried playing Dexter on it (great show) and it worked!!! but today i tried playing the same DVD and it does the 15sec eject thing. Now i'm in China, apple care expired about a month ago and i'm looking for a way to fix this with my hands. Any help would be great! Thanks

Buy an external drive.

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External Optical Drive not working with iMac

I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's. I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I have tried:
- Startup Utility: Can see the external in there.
- External shows up on desktop with Windows 7
- External shows up in disk utility
- Windows shows up in startup menu with holding down Option.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
Anyone have any possible solutions into getting this to work?

Valen85 wrote:
I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's.
Mac Minis without built-in Optical drives behave differently than iMacs with built-in drives for boot ability,
I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
This is confusing. If you have the external Optical Drive (Memorex) connected via USB to the iMac and insert a Windows 7+ DVD in it, the Apple Bootmanager will see OSX, Recovery HD, Windows (if already installed on the iMac's internal drive) and possibly Windows and EFI boot from the DVD.
The Windows and EFI Boot will not work if you try to boot the iMac from the external. Test this from the internal Optical drive as well. If your iMac is a UEFI Mac (2013+) it will let you boot from the DVD directly (without Bootcamp).
Bootcamp Assistant will refuse to let you use the external Optical drive, if you try use it to install Windows. BCA only works with internal Optical drives as far as Windows installation is concerned, on Macs that have a built-in optical drive. The exceptions to this rule are 2012 Macs and some 2011 models.

How to load OS if optical drive not working

Hi, I'm just thinking ahead to deal with a possible crisis as sometimes I work in remote areas of Asia. Is the only way to load the complete Mac OS onto a machine via the DVD install disc or via a lengthy download? I'm probably revealing the depth of my ignorance here, - but can you not somehow copy the install disc onto an external drive and load it that way, or does it not work like that?
My current superdrive will no longer burn disks but is still managing to read them, but if this facility too fails when I'm in the middle of nowhere how can I reinstall the OS should this become necessary?
I suppose I could carry an additional external optical drive for this contingency but much easier if its possible from a drive.
A stop-gap measure would be to use a bootable backup of the machine that I have on an external hard drive but that does not solve the whole issue.
thanks
Simon

Hi there, can you explain in more detail how to install Leopard from the disk image of the Leopard install DVD that I got Disk Utility to create please?
With the actual disk you just hold down c and it forces the machine to boot from the disk, I dont understand how to get the machine to boot from the disk image when it is not appearing as a bootable volume. If I click the disk image it gives me the option to restart and begin installation, if I agree to this it restarts the machine but just as normal, from whatever startup disk is already selected - it does not restart from the disk image.
Sorry if I am being dim,
Simon
I have it on a separate volume of an external HD, another volume of this HD contains a bootable SuperDuper backup.

MBP Optical Drive not reading cds or dvds + LaunchDaemons not in Library

Late 2008 MBP, 4gb, ram 2.66ghz, Mountain Lion 10.8.4
Hey this is my first time using this forum but I'm not computer illiterate so please don't waste my time!
My optical (disk) drive in my Late 2008 MBP is not reading dvds or cds.
I repaired disk permissions to no avail.
I had read another thread on this issue saying I could opene my library to see if i could find and delete com.WD.WDDDriveServices.plist. which I had seen had worked for others who had had a 1tb WD external drive and had had their disk drives stop working because of this. However, when I went into my library the LaunchDaemons folder which was supposed to contain this erroneous file LaunchDaemons was not even there! Is LaunchDaemons called something else on Mountain Lion or what? I went through all my plist files and could not locate com.WD.WDDDriveServices.plist. anywhere! It is my hope that if i can find and delete this file that I may be able to reboot and have a working disk drive again!
(note)
I could play DVDs but not CDs up until I upgraded to mountain lion 10.8.4, but after the mountian lion upgrade now even DVDs won't work.
Can anybody help me resolve this issue with the Missing LaunchDaemons folder, or have another suggestion beyond repairing disk permissions or deleting com.WD.WDDDriveServices.plist. to make my optical drive work
I am hoping can resolve the main issue at hand which is my optical drive, but also any help on locating LaunchDaemons would be appreciated.
(I know there has been a few threads on this topic, believe me I've practically read them all, for most repairing disk permissions worked, for others who had a wd 1tb external hard drive (like me) deleting com.WD.WDDDriveServices.plist. worked, but that isn't an option at this moment since i cant even find LaunchDaemons in my Library lol.
PS.
Please don't be a smartass and say get a new optical drive, I know my MBP is old but I think the problem is not really with the hardware but rather with this absent LaunchDaemons folder.
Thanks in advance.

Likely not. Your next step is a call to AppleCare or a visit to a repair center.

Apple external optical drive not working on macbookpro

I removed my optical drive from my 2011 2.3, macbookpro 13" and added a 2nd hard drive. I have an apple external optical drive(cd/dvd) which I hooked up
via usb and it would not work. I connected the apple external optical drive to my two other mac mini's and it works on both of them. Any reason why the external optical drive would not work on a macbookpro? If anyone has suggestions I would be most greatfull. Thank you in advance.

Click here and follow the instructions.
(77810)

Optical drive not working since upgrading to Mountain Lion

Backstory:
I ordered a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display after a coworker expressed interest in my current laptop (a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MBP). I had just upgraded the current MBP to Mountain Lion, but decided to sell in order to offset the cost of the new machine.
As I started backing things up last week, I realized that my optical drive had ceased functioning ("The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permission." pops up whenever any optical media, blank or otherwise, is inserted).
I took the computer to the Apple Store, where they kept it overnight. They tried swapping in a new optical drive, but were unable to get the machine to correctly recognize optical media. I was told it was a permissions issue with Mountain Lion. They offered to downgrade the OS for me, but Mountain Lion is one of the selling points (as is "working optical drive"). Now my coworker is a little less eager to buy.
My new MacBook Pro should arrive in the next few days, at which point I'll take my current machine back to the Apple Store. I'll try to get them to do a full OS reinstall and see if they can repair the permissions issue in the process, but I'm not optimistic.
My question is this:
Is it likely a subsequent OS update will address this issue? Or am I simply out of luck?

You paid for a license to use Mountain Lion & that license is forever tied to YOUR Apple ID. You cannot distribute Mountain Lion in any way shape or form. If you were to sell your computer, with Mountain Lion installed, as I've already provided, the new owner will never be able to update or restore OS X, should the need arise. You will have sold the new owner a huge bag of hurt.
Good luck.

Clean Install Leopard OSX / Optical Drive Not Working

I have a 4 year old 15" MBP and I want to perform a clean install. The problem is that I my optical drive is not working. It reads in any disc for a few seconds and then spits it out. Is there a way to get around this because I need to use my Leopard OSX disc in order to perform a clean install. Thank you.

Apple Portables: Troubleshooting the slot load optical disc drive

How do I Install OS 9.2.2 on iMac G3, Optical Drive Not Working

Okay, this is the issue I have...
I have an iMac G3 that has a complete blank hard drive in it. How, I formatted it.
I also have Intel iMac with Snow Leopard and ofcourse, I have OS 9.2.2 CD.
Trouble is, the optical drive in G3 doesn't work now. Is there a way I can install OS 9.2.2 using my Intel iMac to G3's Harddrive. I don't mind opening the G3 to remove the hard drive.
I really need help over here and appreciate the suggestions.
Thanks,

Help? Here's the situation. I've got a iMac G3 with OS 9.2.2. While trying to reinstall my speech software (blind user) in the system folder, I think I accidentally moved the finder to the trash. Basically the OS ate itself. Panicked, I restarted and it all went to pieces.
When I tried booting the system, it gives me the start screen like it's loading, and then once loaded, gives me a blank background and blank menu bar atop. A few times the message: Error 10 "Finder" has come up and I'm stuck.
To make things more interesting, my internal disk drive is no longer there, so I'm using a firewire external drive (Dell, does that matter?) and trying to reinstall the system from the disk.
While in this process, I've reset the PRAM, I've booted holding down C, nothing changed. I booted holding down Option and got the choice to boot from the firewire drive, but when selected, I got a nice little floppy disk icon with a flashing question mark. The computer then resorted to booting from the half-deleted system, and I'm back to square one.
Lastly, I booted holding down T, and now I have a blue screen with a big yellow firewire icon bouncing around like a screen saver and I am stumped.
Please help. My next attempt to reboot will be dropping it from a 10-story building. Thanks in advance!

My dvd drive is not working its ejecting dvd's any ideas?

i havent used my dvd drive in a while and not had any problems but it has stopped working , i ve tried cd's and dvd's it just ejects them after a few seconds any suggestions ?

Hi,
Try following the procedure under the sub-heading 'Let me fix it myself' on the link below to manually remove the Upper and Lower filters.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982116
Next, click the Start Menu, open All Programs, open Accessories, right click the Command Prompt and select 'Run as Administrator'. In to the prompt type the following command and hit enter.
sfc /scannow ( note that there is a space between sfc and the / )
Let the process complete, then type exit and hit enter.
Now, click the Start Menu, open the Control Panel and click on Device Manager. Next click to open up DVD/CD-ROM Drives. Right click the drive and select Uninstall. Do not delete drivers if asked. When the device has uninstalled click on the 'Scan for Hardware Changes' icon ( usually just below Help on the toolbar ). Let windows reinstall the drive and see if it now works.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

Optical Drives Not Found/Not Working

Hello everyone,
I'm having trouble getting my optical drives working. They are both the same make and model, and they both have power (open and close) but they aren't recognized by the system. I installed Arch a couple of weeks ago, after the init scripts/systemd change, so nothing was broken there (I'm not sure if that would even have anything to do with it.
I've done some research to see if I could find any drivers/firmware, but all of things I've found are only for Windows. The optical drives do work in Windows. I have added myself to the 'optical' group, and dmesg | grep CD gives:
[ 0.630535] ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
[ 0.630560] ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
I also recall reading here that perhaps they aren't being picked up by the kernel, but I am very unclear on how to check to see what the kernel is picking up. I'm also not sure if they have ever worked under Arch and then stopped, or whether they never worked at all. I just found out earlier today when I went to burn a CD and xfburn gave a message saying that there were no burners found.
The /dev directory has no cdrom* or sr* listings at all. lshw also shows nothing about the optical drives. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I unplugged one of the drives, but it still did not show up in /dev. I checked the systemd log and it shows the folllowing:
[dochollidae@ArchLinux ~]$ sudo journalctl | grep DVD
Dec 02 03:40:58 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 02 08:10:08 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
Dec 02 08:10:08 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 04:32:35 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 04:32:35 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 13:25:44 ArchLinux kernel: ata3.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 13:59:04 ArchLinux kernel: ata1.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 14:11:33 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 04 02:31:28 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 04 11:52:41 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
The one labeled "TS04" isn't there anymore, but the one that is doesn't show up in devices.
I looked into writing udev rules, and I came across this thread and created a file /etc/udev/rules.d/82-cdrom.rules:
SUBSYSTEM=="block", KERNEL=="sr0", SYMLINK+="cdrom cdrw dvd dvdrw", ENV{GENERATED}=1
# permissions for IDE CD devices
SUBSYSTEMS=="ide", KERNEL=="hd[a-z]", ATTR{removable}=="1", ATTRS{media}=="cdrom*", GROUP="optical"
# permissions for SCSI CD devices
SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNEL=="s[rg][0-9]*", ATTRS{type}=="5", GROUP="optical"
That didn't do the trick, but being that I have never dealt with writing udev rules before, I'm not sure if I'm going about it the right way.

Dvd drive not worked properly

i have hp pavilion dv4 series.my dvd drive not worked properly.for that purpose only i went 7 times in your service centre but they won't take action till now .why u people do like this .i want explation and just change my dvd drive that's all.

tcrite,
Sounds like a bad drive...I would get a replacement. According to Accelerate Your Mac database, it should work without issue.
Just enter the model number of the drive and select your Powerbook G3 2000, and you will see four reports on this model.
http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

MacBook Pro Late 2011 : Optical Disk Drive not working?

MacBook Pro Late 2011 : Optical Disk Drive not working?
When i try to a put in a cd or dvd; it rejects it automatically within 10-15 seconds.
I have resetted SMC and PRAM; no chages.
Don't know what to do. Please help.
Thank you.

Clean the heads.
check to see if it is under warranty.
buy external DVD/CD rw

HP pavilion DV9626US product GS739UA#ABA DVD optic drive not detected

HP pavilion DV9626US
product GS739UA#ABA
DVD hp# 445954-hc0
optic drive not detected bu O.S. Vista nor seen in bios (bios does not recognize presence of any optic drive I have installed two)
I have tried two of the same DVD hp# 445954-hc0 Light scribe drives and neither is detected-
My optic drives worked before running a full system recovery
any help getting drive to be detected would be apreciated
Thanks

i guess i forgot to mention in my original post that registry limits were not the problem...they dont even exist...as i did mention, i tried different fixes which included
support.microsoft.com/kb/31460
support.microsoft.com/kb/982116
support.microsoft.com/kb/929461
support.microsoft.com/kb/939052
support.microsoft.com/kb/952951
support.microsoft.com/kb/316529
support.microsoft.com/gp/cd_dvd_drive_problems
support.microsoft.com/gp/hardware_device_problems
as well as manually checking the registry and every other file mentionable my friend has not been able to find her original disk yet, so that remains untried as of date....and BTW, an usb external cd/dvd drive works just fine....but we dont want a patch, we would like to fix the problem and use the internal drive the laptop came with....

Since I upgrade to Lion OS my optical drive stop working can't read or write at all I did what I could to fix it but still not working , any help please

Since I upgrade to Lion OS my optical drive stop working can't read or write at all I did what I could to fix it but still not working , any help please

It sounds like you may have multiple problems, but none of them are likely to be caused by malware.
First, the internet-related issues may be related to adware or a network compromise. I tend to lean more towards the latter, based on your description of the problem. See:
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/baddns.php
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/hackedrouter.php
If investigation shows that this is not a network-specific issue, then it's probably adware. See my Adware Removal Guide for help finding and removing it. Note that you mention AdBlock as if it should have prevented this, but it's important to understand that ad blockers do not protect you against adware in any way. Neither would any kind of anti-virus software, which often doesn't detect adware.
As for the other issues, it sounds like you've got some serious corruption. I would be inclined to say it sounds like a failing drive, except it sounds like you just got it replaced. How did you get all your files back after the new drive was installed?
(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com, in the form of buttons allowing for donations. Donations are not required to use my site or software.)

Windows media player will not work as no DVD driver

Had to format disk (trojan) & reinstall Windows XP home. Now Windows media player will not work as no DVD Driver, can I download from Toshiba site?

Hi
Usually the Windows media Player is not able to play DVD movies IF no plug-ins were installed.
To watch DVD movies you can use the programs like WinDVD or PowerDVD.
Such programs were designed especially for the DVD playing!
But you can also visit the Microsoft website and search for plug-ins for Windows Media player.
Then you could download and install it to play DVD with WMP
Best regards

Optical drive not working only ejecting DVDs

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