Computer rejecting (almost) all DVDs.

I had the same problem, I got a new MBP last month, it read discs at first then would spit out any kind of disc (DVD, CD, data, movie, etc). I finally just sent it into Apple for warranty service. Just got it back yesterday and today it seems to work fine playing DVD movies and burning a CD via iTunes.

I'm having the same problem--except I haven't upgraded to Leopard. I find it hard to believe it's the drive if so many of us are having the same problem. It's just been awhile since I needed to use the dvd drive, so I'm not sure which software upgrade has screwed it up....

Unfortunately I am facing the same problem with my MBP rejecting most DVDs (both Movies and Data) - it is really annoying - and my computer is out of warranty at this point. Is there a firmware update (or downgrade).

Has anyone come up with a different solution to this issue?

Thanks in advance

This is a very common problem, to which I may have a solution. I've posted this a couple of times, and it's had partial success, so here it is again (at least you can check if this solution works in about 10 seconds; no downgrades/re-installs or anything silly):

I have problems getting my MBP "super"drive to read some DVDs - mostly home-burned ones. I (luckily) did NOT install the dreaded firmware update, so this advice MIGHT be useless. Here's my situation: Insert disc. A bit of whirring, some low-pitched humming like the drive is trying to do something but failing, then eventually spits the disc out.

*THE SOLUTION:*
Put disc in. Drive starts going through the motions. Drum your fingers quite hard (like you're tapping your fingers on a desk to a song, except a little harder) on the area where the drive is, just to the right of the trackpad. Keep doing this (it normally takes about 5-10 seconds) until the drive spins up and lo and behold, there's your disc on the desktop, working perfectly.

Please post any positive or negative results on this forum - I'm curious to see if it's just my (non-firmware updated) machine's problem, or if I've found the holy grail to cure many thousands of people's woes brought on by this uncaring marketing corporation.

....or solution 2:
Get a MacBook Air. No pesky drive at all to get in the way of your life. Sorry - iLife. Or some other MacMarketingspeak.

Unfortunately I have not had much success with the finger drumming approach. I have the LG drive as opposed to the Matsushita drive - I wonder if that makes a difference.

Disk Utility was reporting only the ability to write -R & -RW DVD so I rebooted with the Command - Option - P - R combination to reset the PRAM which correctly restored the Disk Utility information, but it did not help with the drive rejecting pressed media and DVD+R media from two different manufacturers. 😟 (I thought I had found a different solution)

What is odd is that it does not even appear to attempt to spin up the disk - based on the sounds the drive is making.

I guess I will go down to the apple store to buy a replacement optical drive. Anyone know how difficult it is to replace the optical drive? And while I have my MBP taken apart, I would likely also upgrade the HDD for a 250GB+ drive. (I am quite technically comfortable - I used to tear down and rebuild PCs all the time - just never had a need to open up my MBP)

Before I open up the case - does anyone out there have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Jose

I have tried the finger tapping approach and unfortunately it was unsuccessful,,,
any new ideas??

MBP 2.4 GHz with 10.5.2: That is odd, I thought it was just the optical drive, but after reading this post, I tried a CD, and behold, the drive is rejecting ONLY DVD's. My computer was starting to act odd, I was about to do an archive and install with my pristine Leopard DVD, but the computer would not recognize it. Tried SMU reset and Option-P-R.

Will load DVD on another machine in Target mode and do Archive and Install. If successful, I'll post again, if not, I too will go to the Genius Bar.

After further testing, it seems that it is only the Leopard DVD that the MBP can't read. Found a Macfixit bulletin on point from October 29, 2007.

That bulletin can be found here:

http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20071029103931441&query=macBookprodvd

Funny thing is that I could swear that I was able to mount this disk in the past... I don't think I used an optical drive in Target mode to upgrade from Tiger.

Good news is, computer good, disk bad.

This is odd, but the finger tapping worked for me. My MBP is out of warranty, but I will use this until I cna get a new drive, or at least have someone take a look at this one.