Replacing Intel iMac Superdrive

Hi All,
So, my iMac's "Superdrive" isn't all that super. Over the past couple of months, it started acting up. It began with some scraping noises when I put a DVD into it. A few weeks later, it started to randomly spit out discs. I would put one in, it would read it for a few seconds, then it would just eject it. The last straw was when I tried to install Final Cut Express and it just took in the DVD and never gave it back. I tried all of the various solutions mentioned here to eject the disc, but nothing worked, so I took it to Apple. The "genius" there told me after doing less to diagnose the problem than I did that I would have to pay $400 for a new DVD drive since my computer was out of warranty.
Upon hearing that piece of bad news, I set out to replace the drive myself. I ordered one from a site recommended by a friend. When I removed the existing drive, I discovered that it was a Pioneer DVR-K06PD. The new drive that came was an unbranded UJ-875. It had the same PATA connector on the back, but would not power up when I put it into the iMac. I ordered a replacement drive and received an identical model, which also didn't power up. Just to make sure I didn't damage anything, I reconnected the old Pioneer drive and it powered up just fine. It still wouldn't read anything, but it showed me that it wasn't the cable that was at fault.
*So, my question is, does my iMac only work with DVR-K06PD drives? I'm having a hard time locating a compatible after-market unit since most of the superdrives are for laptops and it doesn't seem like too many people on the web have tried to replace their iMac drive.*
Thanks in advance!

Okay, this is really from left field, but here's my tale. I upgraded to Snow Leopard the week it came out. All seemed fine. About 2 weeks after the upgrade, I went to burn a DVD, but when I popped the disc in, nothing happened and I couldn't eject the disc even with system reboots, P-RAM and SMC resets, etc. The System Profiler didn't see the drive at all. It occured to me that it might be Snow Leopard related, but I couldn't find anything to substantiate it on line. A lot of people are reported SuperDrive failures, but there doesn't seem to be a mass consensus that it's software related.
I have a couple of other machines with working optical drives, so I was just going to wait until I had a spare 80 or 90 bucks and buy an external (these days that might have been a long wait).
Today however, I downloaded the Blackberry Desktop software for the Mac (for some odd reason my teenage daughter only wanted a Blackberry even though I was willing to get her an iPhone). Anyway to make a long story somewhat shorter, the Blackberry app install required a restart. And poof, all of a sudden the disc that had been stuck in my supposedly dead Superdrive popped out (after 3 weeks and umpteen restarts along the way) and is now working fine.
Maybe Software Update installed something, that kicked in on this last reboot. Who knows. It seems impossible to think that the Blackberry app installed anything that fixed it. But it might be worth a try.
Or maybe it was just tired an needed a vacation.

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Intel iMac SuperDrive (Matshita DVD-R UJ-846) DVD Burning Problems

Hi there:
Having a strange problem burning DVD's now. I have a January '06 intel iMac Core Duo 2ghz, 2GB RAM. My DVD burner suddenly no longer will burn DVD's. When I put in a blank DVD-R, it just spins for a bit then spits it out, no prompt or error message. When I put in a blank DVD+R or DVD-RW, it gives me the usual prompt that a blank DVD has been inserted and asks how to handle it. But when I try to burn, it opens the session, then quickly finishes the session (without any burning) and spits the disc out with an error that burning failed because of an inability to calibrate laser power level for the media. Sometimes it says due to a media error. It also will not read a previously burned DVD data disc, including the OS install DVD that came with the computer. It will however, read and play movie DVD's, and also reads and burns CD-R's with no issues.
I've tried the following fixes with the following results:
1) Change media. Have tried several different types and different brands. No success.
2) Burn DVD's from an external firewire DVD burner. Works fine.
3) Hardware Test via the install DVD (on the external firewire burner). No problems found.
4) Did a fresh install of the Tiger OS onto an external firewire hard drive, booted from that, and tried to burn. No success.
5) Tried burning from Disk Utility and Finder. No success.
6) Put a cleaning CD into the drive and let it run. Still no success after.
System profiler says the drive is ready to burn CDs and DVDs. CDs work, DVDs don't.
Any ideas as to what could be causing this and how to fix?
Thanks!
--Equus

If you guys did a search on the optical drives you'll discover that they have a rather extensive
history for failure. the failing optical drive process starts off rather slowly and worsens over time.
You could replace the internal optical drive but rather than performing surgery on your Imac
you would be better off going with an external optical drive.
If your IMac is still under warranty you can have it replace but I would still pick up an external
as well, I have read a couple of threads where even after having the internal replace the same issue
happened yet again.
I ordered a LaCie that does rather well.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P5C9S0/ref=oss_product
I did however discover a couple of minor issues with my LaCie...
1) When the mounts a disc , for some reason the mechanical ejection button
on the face of the enclosure is disabled. This is not a major issue right click and eject or, drag the
icon into the trash
2) if you are wanting to lightscribe be sure to go to the LaCie website and download the latest
lightscribe app, the one that came with mine was out of date and did not work in Mac OSX 10.6
3) My lightscribed DVD's had a problem , the images where filled with rings from the center of the
disc out, I have discovered this is due to calibration , Amazon has shipped me a new Lacie that
I have sitting in a box next to me, I have not had a chance to test out the new unit yet.
You may also look at OWC's optical drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
Either way make sure that you go with an optical drive with Firewire.
James

External Drive replacement for iMac "SuperDrive" ?

From reading this forum, it seems some iMac SuperDrives (mine included) have serious problems with reading and/or scratching discs. Apparently the only real solution is to use an external drive.
Can anyone recommend an external drive (USB or Firewire 800) that is compatible with the Mac CD and DVD disk-burning functions, iMovie and iDVD, will download software, play movie DVDs, and music CDs? In other words, it should do everything the SuperDrive is supposed to do. Also, it should last more than 6 months!
Thanks!

only store they have is by chicago, which is also their office & where all of their tech support staff are located. they have hrs you can call in 7 days a week for help & are great about fixing or replacing anything that quits. haven't heard the same about lacie at all. the lacie drive are prettier tho, but seem more expenisve for what you actually get, imo.

Replacing my iMac superdrive

Hi, As my previous posting was 'is my superdrive dead', now i think it is what's my alternative? Should i take it to a dealer and get it replaced? Replace it myself (if its easy to do) but with what? and maybe buy a stand alone drive but again what type? I tend to use tuff disks or cheaper. thanks.

As in your previous posting "is my superdrive dead"
How in the world would we know if you don't give us some details.
What makes you believe that it is dead?
Chances are if you have this post in the correct fourm your Optical Drive is still in warntee. Apple will replace it. Do you have Applecare, if so they will for sure.
If you haven't tried to do some basic steps to determine if your drive is the problem or the media you are using.
Have you followed any of the recommended maintenece procedures.
Like Repair Permissions.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=122021
Many times depending on what the issue is Zapping the Pram will and can fix the problem.
Don

Replacing Intel Imac Screen question!

Is it possible to replace a core 2 duo imac screen (20 inch) from late 2006 with the same size screen from the newer aluminum models in 2007/2008

No

It seems like I just missed the interval for the hard disk replacement program. I purchased in March 2009 a 24 inch Intel iMac . How much does it cost to have apple support at an Apple Store replace a hard drive?

It seems like I just missed the interval for the hard disk replacement program. I purchased in March 2009 a 24 inch Intel iMac . How much does it cost to have apple support at an Apple Store replace a hard drive?

My hard drive continually has the floating beach ball and will take massive time to fulfill a request. And then will not boot up...so then I have to do a restore and rebuild hard drive from a past saved time machine version. Works for a little bit...then the floating beachball comes more and more...until it will not boot up again. So then I restore from a previous time machine saved version....and again it works for a day or so ... until it happens again. Now it's happening faster and faster...so I think my hard drive is dying.

Is it worthwhile to replace the hard drive in a 24" 2008 dual core intel iMac?

Is it worthwhile to replace the hard drive in a 24" 2008 dual core Intel iMac?

If you still have a use for it it's definately worth it. You can upgrade the ram to a maximum of 6GB and run the current Yosemite OS. Hard drives are cheap and it's not that difficult, here's a step by step guide https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iMac+Intel+24-Inch+EMC+2134+and+2211+Hard+Drive+Rep lacement/8968

I just replaced the power supply in my Intel imac and now the screen is really really dark and I see the missing folder icon, what do I do?

The power supply in my Intel iMac went out (and smelled pretty burned) so I replced it and now when I start it up the display is so dark I can hardly see it and it shows the missing folder icon. Is it the inverter? Or if shine a flashlight on it and re-install the OS will changing the display settings maybe fix it?

Thanks for ur quick reply to my problem. I tried all of that with no results... I did notice tho that the lights next to and above my caps lock key and my num lk key are now flashing. They flash in unison three times then there is a two second pause then they flash three more times and this repeats. They may have been doing this before I tried this solution but I did not take notice until now... I was also wondering how I am supposed to know, after pressing f10 to enter bios, how I can tell if my new drive is being detected when my monitor will not function? Was pressing f10 supposed to possibly make the monitor turn on? In a last ditch effort to try and further identify the problem, I re installed my old drive. Before replacing it my computer would begin to boot then display a hard error that would not allow me to continue booting and run Windows. My display would still work but I could not run Windows. After re installing the drive the monitor will not turn on. I'm beginning to think that I have a bad monitor. Is there a way of testing this with out buying one? Where does the monitor connect to the mother board? I wonder if maybe its been jarred loose, although I highly doubt it, it may still be worth looking at. Thanks again for your advice.
Casey

Intel iMac PRAM battery replacement

Can anyone point me at some instructions for replacing the PRAM battery in an early intel iMac please?

It is a coin battery, 3 V Lithium (922-6476), and requires opening the case to get to it. I cannot find a teardown photo sequence that shows how to replace it. Nor do I find the battery pointed out in any of the tears downs available at ifixit.com.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Device/iMacIntel17%22
Dah•veed

I had an Intel-iMac fried by lightening. UPS, surge protectors but it happened as I was reaching to unplug. Cold now. Could it just be the power supply? Can I replace that myself?

This is the full question since I couldn't get it all in the box.
I have some complex questions regarding an iMac, a Time-Machine backup, and iTunes on an iPod.
I live about halfway up an extinct volcano about 12 miles north of San Jose Costa Rica. Some months ago, we had a thunderstorm and as I reached to unplug my computers lightening struck about 50 meters from my house. I had an iMac with a 3-Tb external backup drive, a PC laptop and a laser printer on the same power strip. There was a definite surge and the light brighten and then power was lost for a few minutes.
When power was restored, the PC and the laser printer seemed to work fine but the iMac was cold.
First questions: Is is possible that the power supply was fried and not other essential parts? Would it be worthwhile to replace the power supply? Can I, with limited experience and tools do it or need I take it to a technician? My concern is that if the hard-drive is good, there is personal information on it that I don't want to risk.
Next question: Do I need to replace the hard-drive before taking it for service? How hard is that, can I do it? I have seen videos of the drive replacement on-line.
Those are my iMac questions, now the questions about backup restoration.
If there is a saving grace with this it is that the Time-Machine backup seems fine although I have only accessed the data through Finder. I replaced the iMac with a Macbook Air with significantly less mass storage and I can't just move files to the Macbook. My problem is that I have an iTunes library of some 10,000 songs on the backup and until recently on a 160 Gb iPod which was old and it crashed. I have replaced the iPod but have not tried to restore the iTunes library to it because of my confusion about how to do that. Can anyone tell me how I might do that or give me any insight into the process?
Thanks for any help you can give.

Is is possible that the power supply was fried and not other essential parts? Would it be worthwhile to replace the power supply? Can I, with limited experience and tools do it or need I take it to a technician? My concern is that if the hard-drive is good, there is personal information on it that I don't want to risk
Quite possible, but working on iMacs is not easy, & PSU might be prohibitive.
Hopefully the Drive might have info on it, but even pulling that out can be a chore.
If you don't know the model, find the Serial# & use it on one of these sites, but don't post the Serial# here...
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
How to find the serial number of your Apple hardware product...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1349
I have replaced the iPod but have not tried to restore the iTunes library to it because of my confusion about how to do that. Can anyone tell me how I might do that or give me any insight into the process?
I'd get an external drive & restore the whole works to it, then boot from the External drive.

Intel iMac no longer recognizes SuperDrive

I have an Intel iMac and I use a wireless keyboard and mouse. I've tried restarting and holding the mouse button, etc., but the blank disc inside won't eject.
The problem, I think, is that the drive is no longer recognized. iTunes says "Disc burner or software not found". System Profiler doesn't seem to think there is a disc drive either.
I've tried to Repair Permissions, it did nothing.
I tried resetting the SMU and now the fan is super loud. Still nothing works. Please help!!!

Use the instructions below for resetting the Intel iMac's SMC (don't push the button) it's different than earlier Mac's that use the SMU reset.
[How to reset the System Management Controller|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303446]
Have you been to Disk Utility and Repaired Disk Permissions?
[How to Repair Disk Permissions|http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/05/14/how-to-repair-disk-permissions -in-os-x>
I also note that in your profile your OS X version is 10.4.7 is that correct?

Intel iMac - won't start - grey screen & progress bar

I have a 2006 Intel iMac - 20" model, Intel Core Duo, 2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, etc. It was one of the very earliest Intel iMacs. Kept updated, running OS 10.6, etc.
It has worked extremely well for over 5 years - apart from the Superdrive being temperamental sometimes - but has suddenly gone wrong.
Last week the machine completely froze for no apparent reason. I had to force a reboot. This failed - grey screen and the grey spinning wheel (if that's what it's called), indefinitely.
Forced reboot again and this time held down the shift key to go into safe boot mode. This time it was successful, and I was able to get to the logon screen & log myself in. I opened Disk Utility & attempted to do some diagnostics but the machine froze again.
Looking around various other forum postings...I rebooted the machine in single user mode and was able to get to the command line to type 'fsck -fy' to attempt to fix disk problems. This failed repeatedly, with an error message 'invalid node structure'.
I tried to boot my machine from the OS X disc but my Superdrive refused to play ball - it would not read the disc (or any other disc for that matter, including a copy of DiskWarrior that I have).
I have now got hold of an external DVD drive in the hope that this would show up as a boot device when I switch the machine on while holding the option key down. No such luck - the drive powers up ok (power via USB) but I'm not given the option to boot from it - in fact that screen doesn't appear at all.
All that happens now on powering up - regardless of what I do - is the grey apple symbol appears and a progress bar beneath it. The progress bar gets stuck about 5% of the way along, and then after about 10 minutes it disappears and is replaced with the grey spinning wheel thingy. And then it just gets stuck - nothing else happens.
HELP!
All my important data is backed up on an external drive via Time Machine, so that should be safe, but I'm desperate to get the machine running again.
One thing that occurred to me is that I've had a program called ReFit installed on the machine which allowed me to run the machine as dual boot etc. (and I do have a couple of other small partitions on the drive, not currently used) but the ReFit welcome screen stopped appearing a couple of weeks ago for some reason. I'm wondering if this has somehow messed things up...?
Grateful for any suggestions...
Thanks,
Alan.

For the drive, you should be OK with any SATA 2 at 3 MB/s transfer speed. You could also use a SATA 1, no jumpers needed. (Not SATA 3 - can't be jumpered down.) The early 2006 Intels were 1.5 MB/s -- at least the drives were, so I'm assuming the SATA controller on the logic board was also. Might just be SATA 2 hadn't yet been introduced and can run the faster SATA 3 without jumpers. My guess is not. You should be able to set jumpers on the drive for backwards compatibility. You'll have to contact the drive manufacturer or go to their website for that info.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/stats/imac-core-2-duo-2.16-20-inch-sp ecs.html
As for the superdrive, I'd contact the manufacturer to check on compatibility.
Glad I'm able to help. BTW, in case you haven't noticed, maybe you want to have a look here.

Intel iMac - which items are user replaceable?

I'm a hand's on type of guy and should anything go awry or wear out on my Intel iMac I'd like to replace it myself, if possible. Packing it up and shipping it off with all my personal data still on that hard disk is a very difficult decision to make.
What hardware items on the Intel iMac are user replaceable? If my SuperDrive goes out can I replace it? How about my hard drive?
Thanks,
Hudson
20" Intel iMac fully loaded (2Gig Ram, 500Gig Hard drive, 256Mg video) Mac OS X (10.4.6)

True, but if a hard drive goes, I don't see why it would be any MORE hard to crack open the case on an Intel iMac versus an iMac G5 and replace it - according to Apple, they have the same exteriors. That's what it really comes down to: Opening the case, removing the damaged part and replacing it with a new one. I don't see how it would be beneficial to make the user carry the computer to an Apple Retail Store, wait in line, and wait to get it replaced by a Genius when only one model ago, a model that Apple claims is externally the same, the user can do this themselves.
MV

Where can I get a new hard drive for my intel imac? **** thing dumped, less than 3 years old.

This is my first mac and the **** hard drive crashed in only 2+ years and of course the waranty is expired. Can I replace the hard drive with any 3.5" replacement or do I need something special. And if I do where can I get it? I didn't see anything specifically for an intel imac at apple store. I don't want to pay apple to install it, already spent enough money on this disappointing purchase.

any 3.5" Sata drive will do. I recommend http://www.macsales.com/, or http://www.newegg.com/

Microsoft Office 2004 (Word) unable to save files I have been running Office 2004 on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard for some time and all of a sudden I cannot save a document. Word just stopped responding and I have to force quit. I can open Word and cr

Microsoft Office 2004 (Word) unable to save files
I have been running Office 2004 on my Intel iMac with Snow Leopard for some time and all of a sudden I cannot save a document. Word just stopped responding and I have to force quit. I can open Word and create a new document but I cannot save it. I reinstalled Word but that didn’t help. Then went to the Internet and found at least one other Mac user having the same problem which it suggests is caused by a recent Mac Security Update:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2004-macword/word-2004-wil l-not-open-or-save-documents/b04eb870-9b0d-4f3b-bb47-b122301e36f6
So I check for a new Mac Security Update and sure enough there was one. I downloaded it and now Word seems to be working, as it should. I can both open and save files. The only problem remaining is that when I open Word I get the following error message “An unexpected error occurred while trying to load the Microsoft Framework library”. I contacted Apple but they were unable to help.
How can I get rid of this error message?

Look, I realize you might have to get your machine working, so this is how you revert back.
Restore proceedure to pre-Security Update 2012-001 v 1.0 & v 1.1
#1 Backup your personal data off the machine.
Backup files off the computer (not to TimeMachine). If you don't have a external drive, get one and connect to the USB/Firewire port and simply drag and drop copy your User folder to the external drive, it will copy all your files. It's best to have two backups of your data off the machine when trying to restore.
Disconnect all drives now to prevent any mistakes from occuring.
#2 Reinstall OS X 10.6 from disk
Get out your 10.6 install disk and make sure it's clean and polished (very soft cloth and a bit of rubbing alcohol, no scratches) If your disk is borked, you'll have to order a new one from Apple with your serial number.
Hold c boot off the 10.6 disk (wired keyboard, internal optical drive), use Disk Utility First Aid to >Repair Disk of your internal drive (do not format or erase!!), Quit DU and simply re-install 10.6.
Note: Simply reinstalling 10.6 version from disk (without erasing the drive) only replaces 10.6.8 with 10.6.x and bundled Apple programs, won't touch your files (backup anyway) or most programs, unless they installed a kext file into OS X itself. (only a few on average do this)
#3 Update to 10.6.8 without Security Update 2012-001 v1.0 or v1.1
Reboot and log in, update to 10.6.8 via Software Update, but EXCLUDE THE Security Update 2012-001 by checkinig the details and unchecking the blue check box.
#4 Reinstall any non-working third party programs
When you reboot, make sure to reinstall any programs that require kext files installed into OS X, you'll know, they won't work when you launch them or hang for some reason as they are missing the part they installed into OS X.
If for some freakish reason you get gray screen at any time when booting (possible it might occur when you reinstall older programs), hold the shift key down while booting (Safe Mode, disables kext files) and update your installed third party software so it's compatible with 10.6.8.
https://support.apple.com/kb/TS2570
That's it really.

Replacing Intel iMac Superdrive

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