Random optical drive noise

I have a 1.33 mhz powerbook that I purchased a little over a year ago.
Twice now I've had a strange occurrencethe optical drive has made the noise that it makes when it's ejecting a disc, without a disc being present.
I tried searching for a similar posts on this board but couldn't come up with any. Is this the sign of an impending problem?

Perhaps your PowerBook is bulimic!
As long as your optical drive is still functioning properly with discs in it, then you shouldn't worry. Your warranty is up, and you don't want to worry about fixing something unless it's broken, especially with Apple laptops. Unless you have AppleCare, calling Apple is going to be about as helpful as bringing sand to the desert.
If your optical drive stops working, you have a couple of solutions. There are companies that install optical drives for PowerBooks, such as http://www.mcetech.com. If you want to stick to internal, that's your best course of action. Or, if you can't part with your PowerBook for that long (you ship it to them and they install it for you), you can just pick up a FireWire optical drive.

Similar Messages

Optical Drive Noise when Playing CD

One out of every 2 or 3 music CDs I play is accompanied a by buzzing and vibrating of the optical drive. Most of the time it is bearable, but every so often the noise is very excessive.
My previous Mini (2005) did the same thing, and all Macs I have used in the past 10 years or so seem to have loud, vibrating optical drive noise of some kind when installing software from a CD or reading a CDR.
Any suggestions? Or, am I expecting too much when I'd just like to listen to a CD while I work?
Thanks

Desterodo is correct. The optical drive check is normal and is desirable, as you wouldn't be able to start up from a DVD unless the presence of the disc can be verified.
Yes, you could make it stop. By opening the computer and removing the optical drive. But the cure would be much worse than the disease.
Be content, my friend. The optical drive check isn't very loud, and only lasts a second each time it happens.:-)

Optical drive noise

Hi
My optical drive makes a scratching noise with about half of my CDs. Do you guys think I could get it replaced?

One of the first things I noticed when I received my MBP six weeks ago was how much noisier the Super
Drive was in comparison to my previous PB. However, most of theses abundant noises seem to be normal, so Apple has [this tech article with sample recordings|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305478], so you can compare and decide. We really can't do much without hearing what you describe.

MBPro (250GB, 15") freezes and optical drive noise

New MBPro. Two times in last few days optical drive made constant, repeated sorta 'eject' noise along with laptop freeze. I got impatient after a few minutes and rebooted. Any idea what is going on? More info: only has happened with Snow Leopard. Both times I had Microsoft Exchange Server email connection to my work. Nothing else in common with both incidences.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Your Mac should not be freezing. Have you tried running the extended version of the Apple Hardware Test?
Since the Mac is so new, you might want to just report the problem to Apple or make an appointment at an Apple Store to have this problem evaluated. If the freeze is hardware related, only they can fix it. If the Mac is really new and has a hardware problem, you might even get a replacement.
Good luck!

Loading/Eject Optical Drive NOISE

I just got my MacBook today...I loaded iWork onto it this morning and didn't notice any noise hardly at all when loading the disc. This evening, I loaded a music CD into the drive and heard an odd "crunching" type noise. I have read the other posts on similar concerns and have listened to the sounds on this website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305478. The sound my MacBook makes is exactly like "example 1"---does this mean it's OK for it to make this sound??
Just kind of concerned and don't want to waste my time taking it somewhere for repair. Thanks to anyone who might have any advice for me!

Yes that should not be a problem. I have noticed depend in the type of disk makes different noises. A CD in mine sounds a little different than when I put a DVD in. I believe it has something to do with the drive mechanism when it is identifying the disk.

Crunching noise from the optical drive

Whenever I try to insert a CD into the disk drive, I get the noise from sample-1 under the "Inserting a disk" section from the Apple support link Mac notebooks with optical drives: Noises from the optical drive - Apple Support
I can't find anything on how to fix this yet so I'm hoping somebody here can help. I bought this macbook secondhand off of somebody on craigslist almost a year ago so I have no way to contact them anymore. I've only used this computer as a backup so I've never known this problem existed before now.
Any thoughts?
Edit: The CDs won't play and ejects after about 30 seconds of making that crunching noise without showing up anywhere on my drives.

If your optical drive is making a crunching noise it's probably a goner. You can replace it yourself using the guides at iFixIt https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac
Or better yet replace it with and SSD for lightning fast performance and get a USB external optical drive.

Optical Drive makes noise twice on startup

Hi all,
This problem first appeared when I first changed my RAM from 4GB to 8GB last year.
After a year, the RAM broke down, failed the hardware test.
I replaced it and though the hardware test is passed, the optical drive noise issue persists.
The problem now is: upon startup, it's normal to have the optical drive noise ONCE, but my machine produces a second noise when it can't show up the Apple logo within 3 seconds, i.e. the optical drive searches for the hard drive again. (for a total of 2 times, it lets out the optical drive search noise)
To be more specific, when I restart it after a weird startup, it's normal again with just one optical drive noise (Only occuring upon the first startup).
I'm afraid it might be a repeat of history and the RAM breaks down after one year...
Thanks in advance.

rx,
I am having this exact same problem with my Macbook as well. I am very frustrated. My computer will be 2 yrs old in August. Within the last few months, I have had the battery replaced for burning up the computer (June '07), the optical drive replaced (Nov 07), and the hard drive replaced (Feb '08). It appears I am going to have to take it back to the mac store to get this fixed. This has been going on for a month and I have tried everything including Disk First Aid to try to get it stop! Please post if you find something else! Meanwhile, I will say the apple care warranty was a better investment then the computer itself. I have been VERY DISAPPOINTED with the product and I have had Mac products for years (Mac Performa, iMac, eMac, iPodmini).
Heather

Optical Drive Random Whirring Noise

My MacBook Pro's optical drive has been making a random whirring noise for some time now. It's similar to the noise it makes when you insert a disc but there's no disc in it. It seems to be doing it more frequently lately and it's done it since before I installed 10.5. I think something may be wrong with the drive. Anyone know why it would do this? Should I bring it in to be repaired?

ah even more people having this issue.
we've got two threads now!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1110915&tstart=0

I have several cd imports which have so much noise on them that I'm unable to listen to them. Any ideas? I've spoken with Apple care who stated optical drive was at fault; this has been replaced and I've re imported them but same outcome. Michael

Hi, I have several of my cd imports to itunes, unable to listen to for lots of background noise. Applecare told me the optical drive was at fault; a new one replaced old one (less than a year old) still same problem after re-imprting relevant cds. Also ticked error box in itunes preferences.
Would the cds in question have some sort of 'block' on import. All the releevnt cds play on my various cd gadgets.
Any assistance would be much appreciated.
Michael

Does the noise occur with all imports or just some.
Do the CDs play noise free in the optical drive or just as imported.
Have you tried unchecking error correction. I virtually never use that setting.
AAC 128 - Unless disk space is at an absolute minimum, I would import at 256 AAC and a sample rate of 44.100 kHz

Noise from Optical Drive?

Hello All,
I have a problem with noise in my optical drive. It keeps making "seeking" noises every minute that goes by. it sound like eek eek erk erk. LOL but yeah extremely annoying especially at night. BDAqua has the same drive as me, purchased from OWC:
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S222L:
Firmware Revision: SB02
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, -RW DL, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
Also, Another problem, it will not sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity. I have set my power saving preferences to sleep the Mac after 15 minutes of inactivity. Both System Preferences and System profiler acknowledge this but the Mac just will not sleep.
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Dynamic Power Step: No
Reduce Processor Speed: No
Sleep On Power Button: Yes
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: Yes
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Wake On Modem Ring: Yes
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed: No
PS: by the way I have to manually sleep it. (pressing the power button on front of the machine, or touching the power LED on my 17 inch Studio Display with ADC.)
A little bit about my set up: I have a Power Mac G5 (specs are below), all that is connected to it is my 17 Inch LCD Apple Studio Display with ADC, I have an HP Deskjet 3520 Printer directly connected to the back of the Display via USB, and then I have a Bluetooth Aluminum Keyboard and Magic Mouse. I just got them last christmas. My Mac is connected to our Wi-Fi (NETGEAR WGR614v7) router via AirPort Extreme Card installed inside the Mac) and I have internet sharing set to share my AirPort connection via Ethernet (which is where my AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11g) is connected) My APEBS is not using WDS, just setup like any other router, just the service is coming from the Power Mac G5 rather than a Modem. This is my make shift signal booster if you will. LOL. nothing else is connected to the Mac. no apps are open I log out (but still stay wirelessly connected to the router) and the Mac sits making noises all night long from the optical drive. Im running Mac OS X 10.5.8 If that helps. Also, if this is of any use?:
AirPort Card Information:
Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x4E)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.25.8)
Current Wireless Network: Knice Wi-Fi
Wireless Channel: 1
Thanks In Advance.
—Matthew—

Hello peoples,
@BDAqua: Yeah, It burns fine. Fast as can be. no problems with burning, erasing, formatting, reading. On any media. Ive tried all types of blank and burned Discs this drive supports (yes I have no life LOL) and everything checks out A-OK.
A. Timleck wrote:
First of all you're NOT crazy.
Thanks! Good to know.
And it's awesome when I logged in here to write about this problem that you're note was here - I'm >not crazy either.
Awesome. I'm glad that nobody here is a pyscho.
My G5 Quad Core does this and it's annoying as... About every 20 minutes I get this "click click >clack" as the drive is checked for media. The machine is on 24-7 and doesn't have sleep enabled at >all, save put hard drives to sleep when possible.
Sounds exactly like my Machine. Go in the System Profiler and post your optical drive specs here please? Thanks in advance.
The thing is that it did this in my dual G5 that I had right before it - so I thought it was maybe >software (it JUST did it while I was typing this - it's TAUNTING me!).
Yeah same here my friend.
Like yourself it's actually in a place where, at night, though subtle, it wakes me up! I'm threatening to >go in there and pull the plug on the drive completely...
Tell me about it. My Power Mac G5 is right beside my bed. LOL Too lazy to leave my room to check my email and Facebook and stuff, LOL (even though I have my iPhone 3GS...) but I still like falling asleep with my iTunes on.
Would be interested to hear if you find a solution - this didn't happen on earlier G5s I had so what >gives....
Yeah I originally bought this drive for my modded eMac. But I didnt hear a peep, (probably due to the eMac being a tight all-in-one machine with so much other things PLUS it had the loudest fan in the world lol. It had two settings—On and Off—ridiculous) And yes I wuld love to find a fix. Not so much the sleeping as I like having my AirPort Extreme Base station online at all times anyway.
Regards.
—Matthew—

Optical drive is making noise

The noise that it is making, sounds like its reading the disc and then makes eject noises and it repeats the process twice and stop. But it won't let me insert a disk in, is it broken or jammed. this problem just started two days ago when I was inserting a disk and then it ejects, i have tired inserting a dvd, cd, software program and then result to making the noise. so I restart the computer it started to make the noise describe before. so every time It wakes up it makes the noise.
I dont want to have to take it to an apple store, to get it resolved. I want to know if theres a way first before taking it in.

When ever a problem has to do with a "hardware" situation, i ALWAYS suggest bringing it into the apple store. The only thing i can think of is that it is jammed. If you have recently dropped your MacPro then its a possibility its broken. I would suggest not trying to insert anything into the slot drive ever! Even if you opened your mac you cant get to the optical drive. The only solution would to take it in.
Hope this alittle. - Nate

Is normal at power mac make noise from the optical drive?

when I power , the mac make some noise from the optical drive , I guess, This is normally? this noise just appear when I update my Mac to Mountain Lion 10.8.2
Thank you everyone!

Normal, normal, normal. Don't know the reasoning behind it - I suppose the MBP is trying to load anything that might be in the drive at startup. Had me confused for awhile, way back when...
Clinton

Optical drive making squealing noise

all of a sudden my optical drive is making a high pitched squealing noise. also i've been able to burn dvd+r and now it just spits them out. i've had my mac for less then two years. this is my first mac (pc user for years) i really hope its not breaking down already. any help would be great.

It does sound like a fault with the optical drive. It is the noise that bothers me. I would still try clearing the pram if you haven't as yet (hold down applealt+pr while booting up, and wait to hear the 3rd chime before releasing them) and possibly resetting the SMC (unlikely solution), but that would not account for the noise.
Karn.

Optical Drive making a beeping noise

This is really starting to drive me crazy. My macbook pro will every hour or so make a quick beeping and clicking noise near the optical drive. I dont have any apps open that would be trying to check to see if there is a disc and there are no discs in the drive when this happens. I can burn dvd/cd just fine its just that noise that is really starting to bother me I have had this since I got the computer from day one? Anyone else experience this?? Thanks!!

I have the same beeping noise but I can't tell where it is coming from exactly. Doesn't seem like it is the speakers though. It does seem to be front right corner somewhere near the optical drive. Mine is not very often so it is hard to trouble shoot.
My DVD drive also goes through a very noisy start up cycle, three times, each time I wake up the computer. A brand new (one week) 15.4" 2.53 GHz MBP. Does yours do this as well?

Dropped macbook making noises from optical drive, won't accept CD's/DVD

Hi,
I am new to the forum, and unfortunately I am posting because I have a problem. I dropped my MacBook (which I've had since August 2006) from a desk, about 2-3 feet onto tile floor. Luckily, everything turned on and is working just fine, except everytime I turn my computer on and everytime it wakes up from sleep, the optical drive makes lots of noise. It sounds like it is trying to eject a nonexistent disk, except it makes that typical noise 3-4 times in a row before stopping. Also, it will not allow me to insert disks (I can get them almost all the way in, but it won't go completely in). I checked in my system profiler and it shows the details of my optical drive, and it is a Matshita DVD-R UJ-857. I called Apple and told them what was happening, and they told me to bring it to a local authorized dealer. However, I am a college student and it's really hard for me to find time to give up my computer for an undetermined amount of time while they wait to diagnose it. Also, I have a feeling it is going to be really expensive, considering they want at least $100 just to look at it, before the cost of labor and parts to actually repair it. Has this happened to anyone else? Any advice on alternatives or experience with this type of issue would be very much appreciated!

My computer just started having the same problem, only I haven't dropped it. I did, however, inadvertantly knock a hot chocolate over, and a little got into the optical drive. I turned the computer off immediately, cleaned it, and left it to dry for a couple hours. But now, whenever I close the lid & the computer goes to sleep, the optical drive keeps making an eject noise (every TEN SECONDS, incredibly annoying). When the computer is open and running, this doesn't happen.
Also, I just popped a DVD in there to test the functionality of the drive, it recognized it and went straight into DVD Player, so that's fine. However, it's hard to get discs to come back out ... it looks like the spilled liquid has dried but stiffened the felt(?) along the insert slot for DVDs/CDs ... when I try to eject, it makes a noise like it's trying to get the disc out, but can't. I used a paperclip (gently!) along the opening and that loosened it up enough to get the disc to eject, but it's still dirty... any ideas on how to clean that without taking the whole computer apart?
I'm having one other issue now, and I don't know if it's related... when I use the trackpad, it won't recognize it if I use my fingers to tap & select items instead of clicking them with the button. But I can still use two fingers to scroll. I checked in System Prefs, it says I should be able to do all the mouse functions by tapping the trackpad, so I don't know what the problem is. :-\

Random optical drive noise

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