LG external dvd writer stopped working

thewiccaman,

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!

There have been a number of reports of people having problems with USB or Firewire access to external drives after updating to 10.4.10 (balanced against reports of previously unusable drives that now work, not that that's of any consolation to you). It appears that some of the 'minor' tweaks Apple included in 10.4.10 to more closely match the published USB and Firewire standards cause problems with manufacturer's devices that are themselves slightly off the standards.

Although external DVDs should be recognized in 10.4 without any additional software, you can try checking the LG website for any mention of firmware or driver updates for your particular model drive.

You may want to resort to dropping down to 10.4.9 (while waiting to see if Apple releases a 10.4.11). Kappy describes how to downgrade the OS in this post. Ypu'll want this link as well: OS X Update Combo 10.4.9 (PPC)

hi there
I've just bought this external dvd drive LG GSA-E40N but can't install it , all files are exe files. I'm a bit ofa disaster installing stuff , new to mac , can anyone help me ??
thanks alot
ro

Howdy. ro-1964 and welcome aboard.

Your drive should work simply by plugging it into the appropriate port (USB or Firewire). Not software or drivers necessary. Burning discs from the finder or various iApps should work. If you still have issues, download an app called "PatchBurn" from http://www.patchburn.de . You might also consider getting a copy of Roxio Toast, the best Mac burning software out there. It offers options the Apple software doesn't.

One other thing- you will usually attract more attention to a problem if you start a new thread rather than tagging onto an old one.

Hi there Bill
many thanks for the quick reply ...but....
the thing is i hae a dvd full of music i want to add to my itunes libary but where can I access this?
dvd is in the new LG drive but ..ehe where ?
ro

Are you saying that when you insert the disc in the drive it does not mount on the desktop? It should.

Open the System Profiler and see if the drive is recognized by the system. It should be listed under either USB or Firewire depending upon how it is attached.

Tot Siens

Thats exactly what I'm saying !
so if I look un der system-libary-system profiler-SPUSBreporter.reporter ??
I was looking foor it un der my Finder where I can see my hard drive and any other drive I have installed, but nada , zilch ??
thats why i reckoned I needed the software
any ideas?
many thanks Bill
weltrusten
ro

To open the System Profiler, go to the Apple menu and click on "About this Mac" then in the window that pops up click on "More info...". On the left side, click on USB or Firewire to see what you mac thinks is connected. Does it see your drive? do you have another drive with the same interface and if so is it recognized?

BTW, is this a USB or Firewire drive? If it's Firewire, the FW ports on eMacs have been known to quit working for no apparent reason. Fixing them is a matter of resetting, easily accomplished by shutting down the eMac and unplugging it from the mains for about 15 minutes.

You can also try the typical mac things such as resetting the PRAM, repairing permissions, etc.

I re-read your posts and noticed you are running 10.3.9. You should definitely install Patchburn to get the iApps to recognize the drive. It shouldn't be necessary for simply reading a disc, though.

Hi again Bill,
well before doing wht you suggested I think I may have gotten to the bottom of the problem.
the DVD disc that I recieved with mp3 music files was loaded up from a Win machine and I've since learned that apple macs read these files in a different way ??
because I can use the dvd re-writer in my mac envoirment, i.e I can record to it and I can play from it.
So do I need a driver or some program to help my mac read these files ??
thanks again Bill
rosie

Macs can read standard Windows-formatted optical discs, and the MP3 format itself is not platform-specific. You should still work through Bill's advice.

There's are exceptions to the statement that Macs can read Windows optical discs: It's possible to select a non-standard / non-compatible format on some Windows burning software, although that's increasingly rare. More likely, if the Windows optical disc was not closed or finalized (the terminology depends on what Windows burning software was used), then that disc will be unreadable by any Mac until the disc is closed. (For that matter, an unclosed disc will be unreadable on a Windows machine, except possibly one with the exact same versions of Windows and disc burning software.) Check with the source of the disc you're trying to read and confirm if the disc was closed or finalized.

Is it possible these mp3 files have some sort of protection (such as digital rights management) on them? I am not sure this would cause you to be unable to read the entire disc, but it could prevent access to individual tracks. Since you can apparently read/write othe DVDs, it sounds like this particular DVD might be funky.

good thinking batman !
i will check this and the source to see if the dvd was in fact finalised.
ro