DesigningWoman
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: Help! DVD stuck in drive

After having run Disk Utilities off the OSX install disk, I restarted my machine, after which I tried to eject the install DVD. While the icon duly disappeared from my desktop and the disk spun down, instead of ejecting, it remounted. I've tried a number of suggestions found on the forums here, including:

- dragging the icon to the trash

- holding down the eject button

- rebooting while holding the eject button

- rebooting while holding down the trackpad button

- the terminal command "drutil eject"

- locating and double clicking "Eject.menu" from the Menu Extras folder in the System library

And each time, the icon disappears from the desktop, the disk spins down — only to start spinning and remount!

 

There was another suggestion involving a flat bladed screwdriver, but I'm really loath to do that. Would taking the optical drive out of the PB bring me any closer to a solution? Or does anyone have another idea?

 

I'm hoping to hear from the usual experts. Thanks so much for reading.

TiBook Onyx, iMac G5 PPC (with iSight), Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 2, 2011 10:41 AM

by old comm guy,Solvedanswer
old comm guy old comm guy
Level 4 (2,244 points)
A:

OK, the drive to logic board ribbon cable presses into the little connector on the rear of the drive (front being the disc slot) and is easily removable, with a little prying with a jeweler's flat-bade screwdriver.  At least that is what I used when I made the swap.  While it doesn't appear to be absolutely necessary to remove the ribbon cable when removing the top of the drive, it probably makes things a little easier.

 

Looking at the bottom of my 815 drive, There is the plastic cover of the openings in the bottom plate, plus a rubber spacer strip on the left side (with the front of the drive facing up).  On the top of the drive, all I see are the four tiny screws holding the top cover in place and the yellow model number label with the laser warnings in English and five northern European languages.

 

While I don't recall this in my computer, at one point there was apparently a little piece of yellow tape near the slot area and possibly holding something to the top case. This may have changed when they changed from the felt slot strip in the front to the plastic slot that goes in the front of the drive.

 

OK, I just figured out how to release the disc without taking the top off!  Film in a minute.

Posted on Jun 6, 2011 5:17 PM

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Q: Help! DVD stuck in drive

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  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Jun 6, 2011 8:21 PM in response to old comm guy
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Jun 6, 2011 8:21 PM in response to old comm guy

    In the next to last paragraph of my previous post, replace the first sentence with the following:

     

    My guess is that this could also be done with the disc drive still in the computer, using a soft plastic shim, like the corner of a credit card, for instance, inserting it just slightly at about 27mm (slightly over an inch) from the right hand edge of the disc slot and pressing down gently by raising the free end of the card.

  • by DesigningWoman,

    DesigningWoman DesigningWoman Jun 7, 2011 12:11 AM in response to old comm guy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 7, 2011 12:11 AM in response to old comm guy

    Dear old comm guy,

     

    I can't believe you did that! Unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately) some new work popped up last night, which means I'll have to put the TiBook aside for a couple of days — but I shall post back, and thank you so much for all your help.

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Jun 7, 2011 7:30 AM in response to DesigningWoman
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Jun 7, 2011 7:30 AM in response to DesigningWoman

    DesigningWoman wrote:

     

    Dear old comm guy,

     

    I can't believe you did that! Unfortunately (or, rather, fortunately) some new work popped up last night, which means I'll have to put the TiBook aside for a couple of days — but I shall post back, and thank you so much for all your help.

     

    See, that's why I retired: work kept getting in the way of important stuff.  Now it's just other stuff getting in the way of important stuff.

  • by Barry Breen,

    Barry Breen Barry Breen Jun 11, 2011 12:13 PM in response to DesigningWoman
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Jun 11, 2011 12:13 PM in response to DesigningWoman

    Reboot and hold the mouse select button down while rebooting. That usually ejects anything in the drive.

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Jun 12, 2011 7:56 AM in response to Barry Breen
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Jun 12, 2011 7:56 AM in response to Barry Breen

    Barry Breen wrote:

     

    Reboot and hold the mouse select button down while rebooting. That usually ejects anything in the drive.

     

    Number four on the list of things that didn't work for the OP.

  • by DesigningWoman,

    DesigningWoman DesigningWoman Jun 16, 2011 5:56 AM in response to old comm guy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 16, 2011 5:56 AM in response to old comm guy

    Free at last!

     

    Dear old comm guy,

     

    Thanks again so much for all your helpful suggestions. Of course, I started off by trying your credit-card method without removing the drive from the laptop. No joy (sigh).

     

    Following along in the level of complexity, I then opened up the machine, removed the drive and moved the lever as you describe above. Again, nothing — which was all the more frustrating, as this time I could see the disc.

     

    This left me no choice but to open up the drive. Which implied that I had to first remove the brackets. And if you think those little 000 screws are a pain, the ones on the brackets are even worse, I found.

     

    After having liberated the disc, I put the drive and the machine back together and booted up. The drive now makes a very disagreeable buzzing sound as the machine boots, and then quiets down when it sees there's nothing there. I realize that the drive is shot, and I only put it back into the TiBook for its weight, but is there anything I can do to stop the buzzing now? Or do I just live with it until such time as I decide to replace either the drive or the machine.

     

    In any case, I really can't thank you enough for all your patience and suggestions.

  • by old comm guy,

    old comm guy old comm guy Jun 16, 2011 6:23 PM in response to DesigningWoman
    Level 4 (2,244 points)
    Jun 16, 2011 6:23 PM in response to DesigningWoman

    I'd just live with it until I got a replacement in.  And yes, the bracket screws are also a major pain to deal with.

  • by DesigningWoman,

    DesigningWoman DesigningWoman Jun 17, 2011 6:35 AM in response to old comm guy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 17, 2011 6:35 AM in response to old comm guy

    Okay. And thanks again!

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