Q: cd/dvd drive keeps ejecting cd/dvd!!!

Just made an appointment at the local Genuis Bar (over an hour away) so it looks like i'm going to get it looked at. Prolly won't be able to fix it though...or it'll cost me a fortune, this is really turning me off to anything Apple.

In the end I got a new drive under Apple Care.

To me, it rinforces the importance of getting AppleCare.

I know this sounds crazy, but I was having the exact same problem with a newly replaced superdrive which was working perfectly for 3days time. Been searching my *ss off the whole evening to find a "reason".
I read "I shaked my macbook around a bit", so did I, and miracle, it's working again.

I'm not recommending this as a solid solution, but it helped me out for now, but will most likely bug again after some transportation. Seems like Apple needs to fix them drives better.

I have been trying to get my Macbook drive (MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857) working for weeks. Pretty much same problem as you guys. It would read some cd/dvd´s while others didn't work. I discovered the problem, when I tried to install Leopard.

And luckily today I put the book to sleep and gave it a good shook. Now its reading the Leopard install dvd for the first time. I hope Apple realize that this is a pretty common problem and makes an extended warranty.

Good luck everybody.

Simon

Zeimon, how hard did u shook ur macbook? why apple haven't got any comments on this? any recall? do we have to write a petition or something like that to make them know? i want to buy leopard but since my dvd/cd drive is not working, how am i going to? i wonder who make this matshita brand? there are alot of good brands out there such as LG, imation, pioneer, sony, samsung and many others......why of all brands this matshita became the numero uno choice? Apple, wake up!! we need your opinion and respond!

MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8221:

Firmware Revision: GA0J
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw
Media: No

Wanted to follow up on my original post. I took my MacBook into the Apple Store to get some additional input on this issue. The technician I was working with immediately diagnosed that I needed to have the drive replaced. He barely even tested it, leading me to think that this is a well-known issue for Apple. They took the machine for service, I had it back 2 days later.

This was obviously convenient since I have an Apple Store in the area, but calling Apple Care would be just as easy for anyone else who isn't near a store. I've had to use mail support through Apple Care and it was an incredibly fast turnaround.

What is the best way to bring Apple to admit the problem and recall or extend the warranty? By the way, PANASONIC is a brand name of Matsushita products. So, Matsushita drive should not be too bad. Is you Macbook still working OK after a good shook?

Panasonic's ToughBooks better have this problem too, then.

Well, Vaio not always use SONY drive, the same for Panasonic. They may not use Matsushita dirve.
What Zeimon had achieved (?) happened to me as well. I managed to let my Macbook recognize the Leopard DVD by shaking. Then after retarting from DVD, it lost again. I think what happens is that Macbook body is not rigid enough. That may cause i.e. alignment problem or distance problem between DVD drive pick up and the disc. Sometimes, when I give a bit of load on keyboard "p" area, my Macbook read DVD and/or CD. It is not consistant though. I personally don't think its a Matsushita drive issue but Macbook body is not strong enough. Then, by the combination of Matsushita drive and Macbook parts being made to upper side of tolerance and lower sid of tolerance and is assembled, somehow, with some combination, this ejecting problem happens. That is my personal feeling.
Well, I guess I have to pay and replace with new drive......

Running on macbook tiger and attempted to update to leopard. Inserted the new software into superdrive and all was well. Went through the entire installation and system rebooted...into a neverending blue screen. Even worse the computer would not respond to anything and continued to eject the program disc after 15-20 seconds of trials. Finally set up my macbook as target from another mac and was able to enter system tools and erase drive. Upon inspection of the drive it only showed 3+ GB in use whereas the Leopard system shows it needs over 11GB for install. Even after the reformat, my superdrive continued to kick out the program disc, so I had to install from an external USB DVD drive. This time the install took considerably longer and worked up restart...BUT the superdrive does not read anything anymore. For some reason Leopard install corrupted the drive and its useless. Going to contact Genius and see what they will do especially since I am past warranty time period. Sadly enough no issues until update but am happy with the new operating system. Although I am not sure it will immediately justify the cost of a new superdrive.

Good Luck