pjensen4

Q: Imac will not accept DVD's or CD's

When I insert a DVD or CD, after about 10 secs it spits it right back out. If I continue to insert the DVD or CD right after it ejects, the computer will finally accept it on about the 6th time and everything works fine. Is this a drive issue or software? any ideas?

Thanks

Imac, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Aug 2, 2008 12:07 PM

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Q: Imac will not accept DVD's or CD's

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  • by b.stones,

    b.stones b.stones Feb 12, 2012 9:00 AM in response to fdramos2
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Feb 12, 2012 9:00 AM in response to fdramos2

    When you are back in the country you reside in, I'd recommend you take it to an Apple Retail Store, as they may replace the SuperDrive even though it is out of warranty, because of the amount of people that have had issues with the internal disc drive before. However, that said, the Apple technician at the Apple Retail Store may refuse to service your iMac for free and so you may need to assess your options; perhaps complaining to Apple Customer Services to get them to put you through to Customer Relations and explaining the situation, and the fact you were abroad at the time the fault occurred. If they still refuse, depending on the country you purchased the product in, there may be certain laws that mean Apple may be legally obligated to repair it because the disc drive should work for a longer period than a year. Again, this may not be the case in the country you reside in, but in the UK (which is where I live) there are laws concerning the sale of goods and if a disc drive only lasts for a year (which to me is way too short of a time to be "wear and tear") then it'd be a last-resort option I'd look into. But I would be surprised if you had any issues getting it repaired and/or replaced.

     

    And Apple staff generally do not respond to topics on the forum here as far as I've seen, so it is unlikely they'll respond considering they haven't responded up until this point.

  • by James Ball1,

    James Ball1 James Ball1 Feb 18, 2012 6:23 AM in response to b.stones
    Level 3 (715 points)
    Feb 18, 2012 6:23 AM in response to b.stones

    Mine is really strange. It will burn a DVD or a CD from iTunes. It will read and import mostly older commercial CDs, but most newer commercial CDs it will not read, makes a grinding noise, and spits it back out. The Apple Genius Bar was not much help. They told me to reinstall my OS and remove some stuff from my 1TB hard drive because I only had about 2GB available. I did both with no luck. It's still a weird intermittent problem. Are newer CDs protected somehow? They shouldn't be!

  • by treker7,

    treker7 treker7 Feb 18, 2012 8:40 PM in response to James Ball1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 18, 2012 8:40 PM in response to James Ball1

    My IMac bought in March of 2011 also will not play DVD's but will play Cd's. It is ridiculous that Mac has not fixed this problem as so many people are complaining. Has anyone who has had to pay out of pocket for repairs quote a price?

  • by ckaiserjr61,

    ckaiserjr61 ckaiserjr61 Feb 23, 2012 8:32 AM in response to pjensen4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 23, 2012 8:32 AM in response to pjensen4

    I have had this happen as well.  I have also had it happen where no matter how many attempts are made, I could not get CDs to "mount" in the drive, this is on a 21.5" iMac). I found the following solution posted by another here on the forums, and it has a 100% success rate for me, albeit a somewhat cumbersome process. What had worked for me is...Picking up the entire computer, turning it on it's side, (with the CD-ROM slot facing upwards,) and reinserting the disc. Once the disc mounts, the iMac can be retunred to its normal operating position, and the discs will play/import just fine. I have no idea why this works, or why this only happens with some discs. But as previosuly stated, I had a list of some 40 discs that I could previously not import to iTunes because of this problem, (some are commercially available, some are not, some were "burned" CDRs,) but I now have a 100% success rate using this bizaare method that I stumbled upon from another more insightful Apple user than myself on these very message boards  Give it a try, and Good Luck!!!

  • by James Ball1,

    James Ball1 James Ball1 Feb 23, 2012 5:29 PM in response to ckaiserjr61
    Level 3 (715 points)
    Feb 23, 2012 5:29 PM in response to ckaiserjr61

    This worked for me tonight. I put my frikkin' computer on its side and stuck a CD that wouldn't work before. It copied to iTunes just fine. I still say this is an unacceptable "workaround". Unless I can mount my Mac on the wall on a rotating post, this is not acceptable from an Apple Computer product. I mentioned earlier that I took my Mac to the Apple Store in Columbus, Ohio. They told me to reinstall the OS and that my 1TB drive was too full. I had about 200G available. So, they did not really address the problem. I believe the genius at this store had an IQ at the bottom end of the range. I am taking it back there with this CD and showing them the "workaround". It's just such a hassle to drag it to that store and do this.

  • by ckaiserjr61,

    ckaiserjr61 ckaiserjr61 Feb 24, 2012 6:41 AM in response to James Ball1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 6:41 AM in response to James Ball1

    THAT'S GREAT!!! I'm glad it worked for you.  I too was pulling my hair out, as I am a music collector with a "souped up" iPod Classic (240G drive) and had accrued quite the list of discs that wouldn't "mount" in the drive, (and thus not import to iTunes...) for whatever reason.  I personally believe it is due to various non-standardized manufacturing processes, (various disc weights, thicknesses, reflective coatings, density, center-holes ever so slightly "off," etc...) of the CDs (and CD-Rs) themselves, but I was thrilled when another forum user posted this homemade workaround, and like I said, I now have had a 100% success rate doing it this way (as much of a cumbersome, pain-in-the-*ss that it is...it is better than the alternative!)  Good luck on all your future imports, and help spread the word about this Apple "issue!" (for lack of a better term.) Peace...

  • by jipsi,

    jipsi jipsi Feb 24, 2012 8:25 PM in response to n3rf
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2012 8:25 PM in response to n3rf

    How do you 'boot into Windows'???

    I have an iMac with Mac OS 10.5.8 (as far as I can go without a working DVD/CD drive to install new upgrades/OS etc.)

    I DON'T have WIndows, that I know of (unless it was built into/included on my iMac?).

     

    Mine also makes sounds, when starting up and shutting down, as if it has a DVD or CD inside (I KNOW it doesn't). There is simply nothing I can do, from my computer's 'software' environment, to make the hardware WORK PROPERLY. All diagnostics reports  say everything is fine, working, etc.

     

    BUT IT IS NOT.

    I have not been able to use my DVD/CD combo drive for YEARS now, and I actually went out and paid over a $150 for an EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE, so I could get a lot of stuff transferred to IT, free up space on my computer's hard drive. But I STILL need to be able to BURN my saveables/storage onto CD's/DVD's; I STILL need a DVD drive so I can perform software upgrades/re-installs, etc.

  • by GaryKing,

    GaryKing GaryKing Mar 6, 2012 10:04 PM in response to pjensen4
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 6, 2012 10:04 PM in response to pjensen4

    Replacing my optical drive on my iMac did the trick for me. It seems like it's a common thing to have problems with the optical drive, especially since it's the only user-accessible moving part.

  • by VenimK,

    VenimK VenimK Mar 13, 2012 3:07 AM in response to GaryKing
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2012 3:07 AM in response to GaryKing

    Als, ran into this problem.

    Few days back it won't read cd/dvd.

    since this morning it just spits everythin out.

     

    Also done everything, what i found in these forums.

     

    Gonna search my applecare now

  • by Moon-Nyx,

    Moon-Nyx Moon-Nyx Mar 25, 2012 9:28 AM in response to pjensen4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 25, 2012 9:28 AM in response to pjensen4

    I have been plagued by this issue for a long, long time, now. I watch a ridiculous amount of movies on my iMac because it is the best screen in my house. Movies are more beautiful on my iMac than they are on my roommate's HDTV. So when this started, many months ago, it was only a minor inconvenience. Every so often, the disk drive would spit out a DVD a couple times before playing it. Now, it is around 95% of DVD's I put in, and they have to be reinserted many times. Then I've come across five DVD's so far that won't be played at all. I haven't had internet on my iMac for a long time, since before this started happening, so I was praying that some kind of update would fix it. I'm really annoyed to find out that this is not the case. I've recently put a sticker across the slot where the disks go in so that when they pop out, they go right back in. When my iMac actually played movies, my sticker idea was freaking genius. From what I've read, it looks like I'll have to save up some serious cash to get this fixed, just like everyone else. Completely ridiculous. =/

  • by JustCallMe Dude,

    JustCallMe Dude JustCallMe Dude Mar 26, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Moon-Nyx
    Level 2 (240 points)
    Mar 26, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Moon-Nyx

    It would be more cost effective to just buy an external rather than replace your internal ..

    that's what I did a few years back and haven't needed my internal for anything since ..

     

    I'll tell you what amazes me is just how long this thread has been going on yet Apple still has not

    addressed the issue, when this happend to mine a few years ago I called Apple Care and at first

    I spoke with a young lady who said they'll take care of it, that was till her boss got on the phone

    and said my IMac just went out of warranty and, the worse part is when he said he could authorize

    the repair if he wanted to but why should he ? so he'll not ...

     

    Ever since that conversation I have not been a big Apple fan ...   

  • by zakmccracken,

    zakmccracken zakmccracken Mar 26, 2012 6:47 AM in response to JustCallMe Dude
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 26, 2012 6:47 AM in response to JustCallMe Dude

    I've been looking at this thread for almost a year now, since I reported my same problem some time spring last year. Bought my iMac sometime in January or February. Now the warranty period has ended of course. I went to the Apple store one day (in like, end of December) and all they could say is I could send it to repairs. But that would take weeks and I cannot send my computer away cause I need it for everyday work. So yes it all ended with nothing, just still broken. I agree that the most simple solution would be to buy an external drive, or at least Apple would be nice to provide one for those of us with this problem.

    In my case I don't really use discs anymore anyway but now and then it'd be nice to watch movies on the iMac screen or other occasional uses. Just a weak point about discs for Macs is there seem to be no real (official?) Blueray disc support. DVDs are so nineties ;-P

  • by PeedOffBoy,

    PeedOffBoy PeedOffBoy Mar 29, 2012 11:57 AM in response to pjensen4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 29, 2012 11:57 AM in response to pjensen4

    I bought my imac in 2010, I didnt do much research into them, though, I wish I did!

     

    My optical drive was shot too, spinning disks up, then back down, then spitting them out... I had a £300 Compaq PC for 6 years and nothing broke, And I used to hammer it (Being a programmer), I had this for 13 months, and wallop, optical drive... Knackered, 13 months old, used the drive twice... Eh?

     

    But the thing is, my younger brother went out and bought one too, he didnt go for AppleCare, and guess what... His optical drive has just gone on the blink too, right after his year warranty ran out... I can see a pattern forming!

     

    This busted optical drive thing isnt just about being 'unlucky', lifes a lotto and all that, but, there is clearly a problem (Two brothers, two Macs, two busted drives), all these threads... I mean, when I phoned Apple and mentioned it, they were like "Yeah, just bring it in", no arguements, no checklists or anthing.. Just a plain old "bring it in"!

     

    I love OSX, I will admit, and it's a shame an optical drive has spoiled my experience (I cannot help but keep on thinking it'll break again)... And even if Apple do get rid of optical drives, I really really cannot bring myself to throw down over a grand again on the basis that 'it might be alright', when I can just go down to PC World and get a PC for less then half, which, I can maintain myself should anything arise, instead of lugging this thing around the county!

     

    Shame, but, it's like anything else, when a company takes it's eye off the ball, and favours another of it's products, it's the customer that ultimately suffers, regardless!

  • by cyprescrow,

    cyprescrow cyprescrow Apr 4, 2012 7:56 PM in response to pjensen4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 4, 2012 7:56 PM in response to pjensen4

    I have got the same problem....My Imac is rather new....And the drive doesnt accept Dvd´s or Cd´s....I thought it was due to some driver missing, or some system set up thing that i perhaps had missed....But then again the malfunction started out of the blue....What a BS problem this is, and so many have the same issue....I mean i got me a f....ng Imac in the first place cause everybody said there were no BS problems like that on Apple machines....If so many owners now are facing the same problem....I would say it is high time for Apple to call these machines back...and bloody well supplies us with new upgraded ones. "that actually do function, and meet the advertised standards"....No mattter if the warranty has run out or not....I do have warranty for another year or so....But with BS like this problem, and other malfunctions....I am thinking about selling it and get myself a windows machine again...That probably sounds like blasphemy on this site....But what the h...doesn´t Apple inform us about this and do something about it?....It can´t be news...  

  • by Noizeof77,

    Noizeof77 Noizeof77 Jun 10, 2012 7:54 PM in response to arunphoto
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 10, 2012 7:54 PM in response to arunphoto

    Dont know if this helps or not but i was having the same trouble. I repaired disk permissions for mac hd and bingo, reads cds and dvds fine now.

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