superdrive spits out all dvd/cd's...

Did you upgrade to Leopard? Since I did I have the same problem since today.

The same problem (Superdrive cannot read disks) just started on my iMac this past week.

I'm not sure but it I think it started after I installed the recent firmware update.

The Superdrive now tries to read any disk inserted, you can hear the sound, but ultimately it fails and ejects the disk.

I will probably need to call Apple to sort this problem out or get the system repaired.

You're not alone. My iMac started acting just as you described just a couple of days ago. Unfortunately there's no way to even reinstall the operating system since the dvd/cd drive doesn't function. Hopefully Apple is aware of the problem and is going to issue a patch sooner than later.

I had this problem before 10.5. I was told by Applecare to do an archive and install.

I knew 10.5 was coming so I decided to wait. I installed 10.5 yesterday and it is still happening. When I put in a blank CD it whirs and clicks and then spits it out after about 10 seconds.

I have exactly the same problem. It does not read any media, CD or DVD.
In fact as from the begining it does not read perfectly every CD or DVD.
Then problem started to get concern.
Finally today it is stopped to accept any kind of media.
It is just 1 month old iMac and I am very disappointed having this hardware problem.
ıt seems Apple lauch this machine without doing propoper validation.
I hope we will not see further problem. I guess I have to go directly authorised dealer.

hi mizike, can you tell me how long it took once you took it in for repair to get it back? I'm nervous because I seriously NEED my computer to be working for the next month and if it's going to take three weeks I'm seriously up a creek.

Thanks for posting these details. My dad just unboxed his 24" core 2 duo iMac (with Leopard pre-installed), and it has the same problem. I tried inserting both of the Mac OS X install discs, a Windows XP CD, and a movie DVD (individually, of course). All inserted discs are ejected after just a couple seconds. I tried both of the corrective steps that you mention but there's no change in the behavior.

I used Boot Camp earlier to create a Windows partition on the internal drive. I didn't try using the optical drive before running Boot Camp, so I don't know if that was a factor. After the problem occurred, I tried rebooting while holding the d key in order to run diagnostics, but it sounds like using Boot Camp to modify the partition scheme overwrites the diagnostics partition. And I can't run diagnostics from the optical disc, since the disc won't stay in at boot time.

My ambitious plan - install XP and VMware Fusion on the iMac while I'm home for the holidays - is in jeopardy. I hope that somehow this optical drive is fixed before I leave.

I seem to be having the same problem with my oldish 2 ghz intel imac. I just put 3 different CDs in my computer and it gives me an error on the screen "The disk inserted is not readable by this computer." It then gives me an option to ignore it or eject the disk. If I ignore it, I can't see it on my desktop or anywhere else, such as disk utility. I only noticed after I installed the most recent security update. I also have leopard installed. Any idea what is going on? All three CDs are legit music CDs.

Please help!
(and I am past warranty unfortunately)

Also after the update, my computer's clock has gone insane. In the preferences if I set it on automatic update from the time.apple.com thing, it sets it 6 hours ahead of my own time. I have my time zone selected and all of that stuff.

It looks like DVDs work on my computer, but it spits out CDs.

My computer has been doing the same thing for weeks. It won't burn CDs or DVDs no matter what I do.

From reading the threads here and on other boards, it sure seems to me like there's a relation between people upgrading to 10.4.10 in late November to this problem. I wish Apple would address it, other than telling us all to go spend half the amount of a new Apple just to get our burners working again.

In case I need to replace the drive with a third-party drive, though... I have a question (maybe even a stupid one, but I want to make sure). I see replacement Superdrives for sale for the G5 iMac. Can I presume these'll work in the Intel iMac as well?

mizike wrote:
Update: Applecare diagnosed it as a hardware problem and are replacing the optical drive under warranty.

Interesting...mine died today. The iMac is approx. 9 months old, and has been working with BootCamp since June, both beta version and pukka Leopard version. I was using the drive within XP earlier today, then put in another DVD and bingo, you hear it trying to whirr away, and then after about 10 sec. it ejects - sometimes! Other times it doesn;t even eject it - it tires again and again and after 3 or 4 attempts the disk pops out rather ungainly. Luckily I have AppleCare for the next 3 years, so I will be calling them tomorrow.