Mac Mini cd stuck in drive

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It sounds like the CD may actually be getting stuck in the eject cycle, perhaps it isn't able to clear the slot on the outer casing.

try inserting something thin, such as a business card, about half an inch into the centre of the slot, angled upward or downward to try and guide the CD out. That will often do the trick in a situation where the system is trying to eject the disc but for one reason or another it fouls the inside of the casing.

Stuck discs, along with loading and unloading problems are an inevitable risk when using the sort of slot-loading drives found on the mini, iMacs and Mac laptops, but given the sheer number of these systems out there, it's not really a greatly common problem.

The business card twisted to stop the disc spinning is a good trick for those situations where the Mac doesn't recognise the disc because it forces the system into an eject, but in a situation where the disc is stuck in the drive due to fouling the casing, it doesn't help of course - hence the advice to try and guide the disc out. It must be said that sometimes the only solution is to remove the casing!

In the past, this issue has most commonly been caused by discs which are slightly thicker than standard, or a casing that has not been correctly refitted after opening the system up for something like a RAM upgrade.

Hi.

The Open Firmware method from the article you refer to, doesn't work for your Intel Mini.

Have you already tried these Terminal commands:

drutil tray eject

or

drutil eject tray

If that doesn't work, unplug all the cables from the machine, leave unplugged for a few minutes, plug it all again, and start it while holding the mouse button.

Good Luck.

Good to know it's sorted, but I wouldn't be too concerned about putting other discs in there - if another one sticks, then you know the drive or casing is suspect and it needs to be replaced or repaired. If it doesn't, you know it's an issue with just that CD, or at worst with similar ones.

Either way, it's best to know so it can be dealt with appropriately!

I bought my mac mini in Sept. In early November I had the same problem and had to have my superdrive replaced under warranty.

Yesterday a CD got stuck again. It is again in the shop with the same symptoms that I had before and what you described. It appears to be a common problem. If it happens again, I see if the lemon law applies; which would be a shame becuase otherwise I love the machine.

Each time the CD that got stuck was a manufactured CD not CD-R.

I'll be curious to see how yours turns out.

Hikerspud,

There are double-side hybrid music cds that have video on one side and music on the other side that definitely are too thick to eject reliably with slot-loading drives.

I don't know if that is the issue in your case, however. But it would be interesting to know the actual CD name that is getting stuck.

Hi

I know the problem is solved, but when that happens to me I just reboot my Mini (it worth for all Macs). During reboot, after the tone, press and hold the mouse button (the left one) and wait. The CD trapped inside the mac will pop up automagically.

Save the tip for future...

Abraços

I first had a stuck FCE DVD with Leopard on my mini. I went back to Tiger but still had a few problems. I checked out all the methods I could find to unstick. Not all work at the same time even with the same disk but here are some to try.

1. use the keyboard eject key
2. use Command + E
3. hold down the mouse button at the startup chime
4. open iTunes and use the eject button
5. open disk utility, click on the drive, if it shows, and eject
6. hold down C key at startup, the computer ejects because it is not an install disk
7. take the computer to Apple 8-)

One of my first steps is to eject all external devices (USB and Firewire) and disconnect them.

I've got the same symptom (disc stuck in drive) bit I think a different cause. I inserted a DVD, iDVD software didn't come up and nothing happened. No disc symbol in Finder. When I check the hardware config it tells me that there is no drive. So it seems the reason my dvd is stuck is because the drive has somehow got physically or logically disconnected from the CPU.

Does anyone know:
a) how to eject the dvd (none of the methods listed work)
b) get the Mac to recognise the drive

many thanks,
Robin

A co worker of mine had a disc stuck in his old mini.

I did this, though i wouldn't recommend it, its not for the faint hearted.

The machine was old, if it broke, it broke. he was getting a macbook pro anyway so he could use it at work and at home.

I took a tooth pick, and a pair of tweezers to it, the tooth pick to jsut get it loose enough from the spindle and feed arm, then used tweers, managed to grab teh end of the dis, then i proceeded to turn teh mini so the drive slot was facing bown, the Apple logo facing towards me, so gravity could help, then jsut gently pulled the disk out.

Worked like a charm.

But the edge of the disk was pretty crimped up from trying to get a good solid grip on the disk.

he know uses an external tray loading drive, he still uses the mini, in addition to his Macbook Pro. Though his son uses it more than him.

Thanks so much! This was helpful to me. The business card trick did.....the trick!