OPTIARC brand optical drive in new 24" iMac

Question

Level 1

25 points

OPTIARC brand optical drive in new 24" iMac

I just noticed with my new 24" iMac (it's a replacement, first one had a faulty screen) - the optical drive is an "OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5630A" - the first iMac had a Masushita one.

I'm not sure if there's anything I can test it with - but it seems slow and it wouldn't recognise a couple of DVD titles when I initially put them in - I had to reboot, then they appeared.

Some quick searching found that OPTIARC is a Sony/NEC initiative; but that's all I could find about the drive.

Anyone had experience with these drives or had any problems?

iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.4.10), 3gb ram

Posted on Sep 8, 2007 1:44 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 9, 2007 2:25 PM in response to Paul Troon

Hi,
I had the problem in an old IMAC G3 just yesterday. After much experimentation I found the answer that is not written in any literature from Apple that I could find. Next to the reset key on the Apple G3 is another button that has no specific literature on and I pressed this key while starting the computer. I came to the firmware that gave me a choice between shutdown and start IMac. I said to myself, "I wonder if there is a command that would reject the DVD. I typed Eject, and it didn't recognize the command, I typed Eject DVD, and it didn't recognize the command, and then I typed, EJECT CD, and the stupid restore disk that didn't would with the system and there was nothing else I could do, came out and I immediately chucked in the garbage.

I did a new install and it works fine!

Reply

Answer 2

Paul Troon Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 10, 2007 5:05 AM in response to easeltine

Hi,
Yeah - no, different situation - but thanks.
You'll find holding down the mouse button when starting the computer will eject a stuck dvd usually.

My dvd's weren't stuck - could eject them, just didn't recognize them straight away, but it seems apple are using a new type of optical drive in their new imacs.

Reply

Answer 3

foothold

Level 1

0 points

Sep 21, 2007 7:36 PM in response to Paul Troon

I'm having the same problem my machine, 24" 2.8Ghz core duo (which arrived all of 4 days ago). More often than not, any DVD I put in isn't recognized/mounted, and I need to restart the machine for it to mount. When it does mount it, I have no problems.

Do you suspect this is a hardware issue, and that it is symptomatic of these Optiarc drives?

Lastly, might there be any way short of having Apple ship my machine off for a while to get repaired to resolve this problem?

Reply

Answer 4

Paul Troon Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 23, 2007 5:52 AM in response to foothold

It's only happened a few times - but then I don't use my imac for watching dvds really; hopefully it's not an ongoing issue - could be a driver thing...

Reply