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Dec 9, 2012 11:27 AM in response to andrewfromflagstaffby Allan Jones,Did the drive ever work with DVDs? In the very first G4 iMacs, a DVD-capable drive was an expensive option, so it may not have the capability.
Is this a commercial DVD, one that was burned, or a blank one to be burned?
Finding out if you have a DVD-capable drive: do "About this Mac" from your Apple menu and, in the resulting window, click the "More Info" button to launch System Profiler. Once there, use the left-hand "Contents" pane to select "Disk Burning." That will show this:
[click image for a larger view]
In the main pane you can see an entry for "Reads DVD" and, below that, what kind of media can be recorded.
If "Reads DVD" reports "No," you are out of luck.
If it says "Yes," the first thing to do is get and use a drive cleaning disk. You want the kind the works dry--not wet--using static brushes. I use this one:
http://www.ixos.co.uk/us/ixos-products-detail.asp?PROID=595&Category=20
I've loaned it to several friends whose Mac optical drives were pronounced "dead" by Apple techs, but a simple cleaning restored the drives to full function.
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Dec 9, 2012 11:50 AM in response to Allan Jonesby andrewfromflagstaff,it can seen the dvd but it will not play it. i open quickplayer to play the dvd but it can't burn dvd it but i have not try to burn cd
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Dec 10, 2012 7:52 AM in response to andrewfromflagstaffby Allan Jones,What did System Profiler show? I posted that technique becasue you can get some clues from its reports.
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Dec 20, 2012 9:21 AM in response to Allan Jonesby andrewfromflagstaff,is thier any dedcoder for a 12 years old imac g4 to dvd it show the icon but cant play
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by a brody,Dec 20, 2012 10:18 AM in response to andrewfromflagstaff
a brody
Dec 20, 2012 10:18 AM
in response to andrewfromflagstaff
Level 9 (66,882 points)
Classic Mac OSAll iMac G4s with a built-in DVD drive have a built-in ability to playback any commercial DVD's movie. Burnt DVDs made with other computers get a little more sticky because the DVD drive in the iMac G4 was the slowest ever made. So if they were burnt at high speed the iMac G4 won't be able to handle those DVDs. This is why the System Profiler data is so important. It will tell you under the ATA or IDE section what type of optical drive you have and what formats it supports reading and writing. Go to Apple menu -> About This Mac -> More info. If Mac OS 9, just pick the Apple System Profiler from the Applications Mac OS 9 folder or Apple menu.
