Q: Imac will not accept DVD's or CD's

That error is a bad Sensor, or connection with it.

I think a thread with over 8,500 views tends to point to a problem. Those 85-80 posts are the only ones responding to this one thread. I have found many other threads with similar complications-- with many iMac users having issues with their iMac's that have the Panasonic Matshita UJ-875 drive. My personal issue reflects many of those expressed in this particular thread: my iMac drive has problems reading certain audio CDs-- it tries to read them, then spits them out. However (for now) it will play data CDs and DVDs. Others report their iMacs won't read DVDs and others report their optical drives won't read either CDs or DVDs. Now that's a bummer.

Maybe for you "90 people does not a recall make" but when those 90 people (and more if you check out the other threads) start bad-mouthing Apple to the point that sales start to slip, then maybe they'll take heed. At the very least they should issue a technical bulletin with possible suggestions and if they were truly magnanimous, they'd offer replacements. You might say Apple is foremost a business but they got to where they are by making great products based on solid customer support-- and in some instances, they even made good on some iffy situations, like the great iPhone rebate.

Case in point: At work, I use a MacBook Pro. One day, there was no sound--from the speakers, head phones, nothing. I searched the Discussions pages but really didn't find anything other than a few comments (not as many comments as this drive issue, that's for sure.) Then I called my Apple Educational Sales rep, who passed me over to Tech Support. He issued a RMA over the phone and the next day I received a special shipping box with pre-paid shipping, which I then boxed up the laptop and shipped it out. I kid you not, +within a week+, I got the MacBook Pro back and according to the enclosed docs, they had replaced the sound card. To this day, I still sing Apple's praises for taking care of this so quickly. Then again, I tend to ask myself, "If Apple knew the sound cards were bad, why didn't they let the customers know?" They waited until they complained.

You-- and Apple-- might only see 90 people complaining. I see 8,500 people looking at one thread who may have similar issues and are looking for a solution. I also see lots of other threads citing similar issues with their iMac optical drives. Even is Apple is a business, they should be seeing trouble.

My 2 cents.

Same problem here with a 1 year old 2.4ghz, and a matshita UJ-875!! got applecare so they will replace it!! but not very fair for the other who don't have it...

Albeer wrote:
I think a thread with over 8,500 views tends to point to a problem.

I agree, it is certainly a problem. I don't mean to trivialize the problem, I'm sorry if I gave that impression. Rather, I was trying to temper the emotional cries for a recall that do not seem to be grounded in fact.

Those 85-80 posts are the only ones responding to this one thread. I have found many other threads with similar complications-- with many iMac users having issues with their iMac's that have the Panasonic Matshita UJ-875 drive. My personal issue reflects many of those expressed in this particular thread: my iMac drive has problems reading certain audio CDs-- it tries to read them, then spits them out. However (for now) it will play data CDs and DVDs. Others report their iMacs won't read DVDs and others report their optical drives won't read either CDs or DVDs.

Now that's a bummer.

Yes, it is.

Maybe for you "90 people does not a recall make" but when those 90 people (and more if you check out the other threads) start bad-mouthing Apple to the point that sales start to slip, then maybe they'll take heed.

That's right. At some point, if publicity is bad and loud enough, it will start to make sense, from a business perspective, to initiate a recall. I do not believe I argued otherwise in my previous post.

At the very least they should issue a technical bulletin with possible suggestions and if they were truly magnanimous, they'd offer replacements. You might say Apple is foremost a business but they got to where they are by making great products based on solid customer support-- and in some instances, they even made good on some iffy situations, like the great iPhone rebate.

I continue to agree.

Case in point: At work, I use a MacBook Pro. One day, there was no sound--from the speakers, head phones, nothing. I searched the Discussions pages but really didn't find anything other than a few comments (not as many comments as this drive issue, that's for sure.) Then I called my Apple Educational Sales rep, who passed me over to Tech Support. He issued a RMA over the phone and the next day I received a special shipping box with pre-paid shipping, which I then boxed up the laptop and shipped it out. I kid you not, +within a week+, I got the MacBook Pro back and according to the enclosed docs, they had replaced the sound card. To this day, I still sing Apple's praises for taking care of this so quickly.

That is a great Apple Support experience!

Then again, I tend to ask myself, "If Apple knew the sound cards were bad, why didn't they let the customers know?" They waited until they complained.

I tend to ask myself the same question as well. And then I realize that I just don't know enough details to really answer it. I certainly don't know enough details to accuse Apple of willful negligence.

You-- and Apple-- might only see 90 people complaining. I see 8,500 people looking at one thread who may have similar issues and are looking for a solution. I also see lots of other threads citing similar issues with their iMac optical drives. Even is Apple is a business, they should be seeing trouble.

Here is where the argument starts to break down. The 8,500 view count on this topic (actually, almost 9,000 by now), does not necessarily indicate 9,000 separate people. In fact, I just bumped up the view count by 10 by hopping back and forth between the topic and the forum topic list. I'm guessing that at least 30 of the views represent me and me alone.

That is all well and good, but let's just assume that 9,000 separate people have viewed this topic and that each of the 9,000 people have experienced the iMac CD-ROM drive issue. Heck, let's assume that five times as many people actually experience the problem: that'd be 45,000 people or 45,000 iMacs with the problem. I hope I'm being generous enough with my assumptions.

Now, I see posts in this topic representing iMacs that date all the way back to August 2007. So, let's look at Apple's sales figures since that time. According to this webpage:
http://www.macworld.com/article/138362/2009/01/earnings.html
Apple sold 8,307,000 desktop computers between July 2007 and the beginning of this year. We are already halfway into the year, so the figure is a little low, but I think it will suffice: let's say that Apple has sold 8,307,000 desktop computers between July 2007 and today.

Apple manufactures three types of desktop computers: the Mac Pro, Mac mini, and the iMac. I highly doubt that Apple sells equal portions of each desktop. It is likely that it sells more iMacs than either of the other two desktops. But, for this exercise, say that only ⅓ of Apple's desktop sales since July 2007 have been iMacs: 2,769,000 iMacs.

Okay, here is the punchline: our educated guesses show that Apple has sold 2,769,000 iMacs since July 2007 and 45,000 of those iMacs have this CD-ROM problem. That means that only 2% (!!) of the iMacs have the problem. Only 2%!

I'm no businessman, but a 2% failure rate does not seem recall worthy. Rather, it seems like a normal rate to handle via standard Support & Repair methodologies.

My 2 cents.

And now you have my 2 cents (plus some figures show you how I arrived at my conclusions).

I too have had lots of problems with my super drive and I finally took it to the Genius bar at a new Apple store that opened semi close to me and was told that there is a known problem with the connection cable between the drive and the mother board. Now he said that it would only cost me $12 for the cable plus $85 to install it. OR if the drive was actually bad it would be $500 to replace.
Now I'm confused... Apple has a known problem with a part on the iMac's but it will cost me to fix it. There is something wrong with this picture.

My mac has similar problems. I heard of a hack, but not sure if its worth it to get into. Seems like the time when my "update" disabled features on my Quicktime player around 7.0., so I could pay them for them in Quicktime Pro.... Like bringing your car to the dealer for an oil change, and having them disable your power windows, so you'll want a new one. Doesn't seem right.

I offer another variation: My iMac accepts DVD but not - under any circumstances - CD, neither empty or written. As I see from the discussion it might be best to go to the shop without hesitation...
I had another iMac with no accept of neither CD or DVD and we could manage the problem by using disc-tools in the tools program. There we could find out that the software did not register that the last disch we had innside was thrown out. Inthe disc-tool we could manage that - and after that everything went ok with that machine. I didn't help in the actual case.
Michael

same here, my intel based imac with MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875 wont read CDs
it just splits them out. It will read DVDs.
paid $1400 for this piece of ****

I have the same problem. So what is the solution here? Do I take this 24" computer back to the store? I have trouble reaching a human being over the phone. I'm instructed to make an appointment online which I keep running into brick walls. I NEED HELP!

Hi everyone, glad I found a discussion about this problem I'm experiencing since a month or so. It's similar to the one presented by many partecipants: my (out of warranty) Imac® (bought may 2008) has a MATSHITADVD-R UJ-875 drive and it accepts cds and dvds as well, but it always reads them as empty discs I mean even the written ones, of course. If I try to burn them, say with iTunes® or iDVD®, the whole process gets executed, the cd/dvd gets ejected, but when I try to listen/watch on my stereo or dvd player the disc results empty. Inserting it again in the computer takes me to the starting point: blank disc. Given the fact that repairing the dvd-drive at the local Apple® store will cost me a lot of money I think I will go for a cheaper external drive, I don't think that there are hopes for us to get our computers repaired free of charge by Apple®, but I will obviously be very happy to be contradicted. As my previous Imac® experienced – after warranty expiration – logic board problems I don't think I will buy Apple® hardware anymore, while at the same time discouraging people I know from doing it. Osx® is a great OS, but Apple® hardware, in my experience, isn't up to it. I didn't mention it before, but of course I haven't done nothing to my computer that could have threatened its functioning. Thanks for your attention.

Best regards
Corrado

Message was edited by: Corradot

This might sound dumb but has anyone tried cleaning their drive's lens?

I'm personally not a big fan of doing this especially with one of these commercial cleanters but we've had a couple of MBP's start being picky about the items they want to read. I used one of the commercial CD/DVD cleaners which is a CD with two brushes glued to the underside.

Fixed both MBP's.

K

Dear Niteshooter,
I just tried with a cd cleaner, but no way: problem still there. By the way thanks for your suggestion. Have a nice day.

C.

Also having a problem with my 17" iMac Core Duo. Drive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846. I read through this forum and didn't find anything about self-repair.

For the more adventurous ones (and especially those of us without a warranty to lose), does anyone have a guide on how to pop open an iMac and, more importantly, where to find a better working optical drive?

I too am also having this issue and after spending a **** load of money on this computer, I don't think I should have to shell out a penny for faulty hard ware...I don't want to take it into the store because I think it'll be futile and I refuse to pay and will probably turn into the exorcist. It ***** because I bought this computer just for my media and it wont even read CD's anymore...

Apple has just posted some info on how to go about dealing with and troubleshooting this problem. You can find the info here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801