iBook G4 Combo Drive Does Not Read CD's - But Reads DVD's

Question

iBook G4 Combo Drive Does Not Read CD's - But Reads DVD's

Since about a week ago, my combo drive has not been able to read any audio or data CD's. However, it remains able to read and play DVD's. When I insert a CD into the drive, it would either automatically eject itself, or remain in the drive without being recognized by the system. After inserting a CD, I can hear the drive making noises indicating that it's trying to read the disk.

If anyone has encountered this problem, how can it be resolved?

Thanks.

iBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Combo Drive

Posted on Aug 31, 2007 12:54 PM

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Answer 1

S.U.

Level 6

9,601 points

Aug 31, 2007 5:30 PM in response to Xingjian Zhao

Your combo drive may have partially died and lost its ability to read CD's. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that this would show up on the Apple Hardware Test, but with the drive not working, you won't be able to run the AHT. You could go to Disk Utility and verify permissions and repair if necessary and see if that helps.

I have heard of combo drives being able to read DVD's but not CD's--the two functions seem to work independently. You may have to go to an authorized Apple repair facility if you have access to one to get a definitive answer--they might be able to test it for you.

Good luck!

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Answer 2

miniblog

Level 1

145 points

Oct 29, 2007 9:05 AM in response to Xingjian Zhao

I have the same problem too.

Weeks ago, audio CD playback was impossible. Days ago after I installed Leopard, I tried to put iWork '08 on my iBook G4. However, it failed to read the iWork '08 CD.

I shall make an appointment with the Genius Bar this week.

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Answer 3

Oct 29, 2007 4:31 PM in response to Xingjian Zhao

I had 8 CD-RW disks backing up iTunes and wanted to update them so I erased them to start over. Afterwards when I tried to use them each and every one was useless-my iBook was telling me they were unreadable. I Googled this problem for quite some time without finding a solution. People were actually replacing their optical drives. Anyway I found my own solution, figuring that the combo-drive was ok since it was reading all my DVDs and other CD-RWs. I opened BurnX, popped in the unreadable CD, but before the warning box came up I clicked on erase to erase the already erased CD. This prevented the warning box from coming up and the CD ejecting. Next I burned a small file onto the CD-just any old file-actually a short TextEdit document, then I erased that. Also I made sure that the CD was not apendable. It worked! I then did the same with all the other CDs that were unreadable after having erased the iTunes backup from them and was ready. I began the backup procedure and was afraid that it was going to tell me what I had forgotten to mention earlier, that the disk was not blank when I knew it was, but it didn't and they all worked fine. The backup was a success and I had found the answer to a problem that apparently many people have had over the years. Hope this helps.

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