Superdrive not so Super anymore - help

Question

The Superdrive (PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-117D) on my G5 Dual 2 gig (10.3.9) seems near death. Although the drive will read DVDs and audio CDs just fine, burning is completely unreliable. 1 disk out of 10 might burn OK. The other 9 are coasters.
At first, audio or MP3 CD's burned through iTunes 4.7.1 would no longer play in my car. Or, just the first few tracks would play and the rest would be corrupted somehow.
Now, the drive won't properly burn data CD-R's from the finder or iTunes. The drive claims to be burning the data, and makes the appropriate whirring noises, then burps out a message that says "An error occured while using this disk. This disk cannot be used." This message sometimes appears during the burn and sometimes during verification.
After an unsuccessful burn, the CD-R media seems to remain untouched.
I looked in the console log for a more descriptive error message and found this:
Finder: Burn started, Wed Dec 14 14:57:52 2005
Finder: Burning to CD-R media with SAO strategy in PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-117D B705 via ATAPI.
Finder: Requested CD burn speed was max, actual burn speed is 24x.
Finder: Burn underrun protection is supported, and enabled.
Finder: Write (10), block: 192, count: 32 -> 3/73/03 Medium Error, Power calibration area error
Finder: Burn failed, Wed Dec 14 14:58:10 2005
Finder: Burn sense: 3/73/03 Medium Error, Power calibration area error
Finder: Burn error: 0x80020060 The device drained its buffer without burn underrun protection.
I've read a bunch of the posting on this forum, and tried the easy fixes already, like using a disk lens cleaner, compressed air and different media. All with no joy. This thing worked great for a while. I suspect the problem may have started with the install of the Apple Security Updates, but I'm not sure.
My questions are these:
"How do I determine if this problem is in the hardware or the software?"
"Does anyone know what these error codes mean?"
"Can anyone out there help a poor old geek fix this thing"
G5 Dual 2gig   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

There is not much help available for simply playing CDs. The questions are generally about problems trying to burn discs, stuck discs, etc. I quickly found two Apple Support "Help" articles, which means they are available from the "Help" menu of the menu bar.
1.) The computer ejected my CD or DVD right after I inserted it
2.) My CD or DVD makes a vibrating noise
In addition, a restrictive search finds 35 hits, while my slightly limited search turned up 332 hits
The only possible other solution that I can suggest is a PRAM reset. To reset the PRAM:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following four keys on the keyboard: Command (Apple logo), option, P, and R. You will need to hold these four keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Start up the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination after the startup chord sounds, but before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold all four keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup chord for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
If this wouldn't work, it's probably in need of warranty repair.
Message was edited by: myhighway