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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

Reply
475 replies

Aug 9, 2008 1:13 AM in response to pjensen4

I've got the exact same problem, except, mine won't read at all- no matter how many times I put it back in again.

I've searched around for help, but the only solution seems to be to go to an Apple store and get the disc drive replaced (preferably a pioneer one). But I haven't got that far yet (taking a 24" computer into town ain't that easy).

If you do go to a store, please tell us how it went.

Aug 14, 2008 3:04 PM in response to brian lugo

I'm having the exact same problem, my 24" iMac wouldn't read the Ableton Live installer DVD, so i thought it originally might have been the disc. I had no problems reading it in my 17" powerbook however. I tried a few other DVD's including the MacOS install disc and had no luck either. I was able to mount a few install cds, but almost no dvds (I did get one to mount after repeated attempts!).

I wanted to know if everyone else was having this problem right from the start, like I did, or did it get worse until it is at the point that nothing will mount?

I've got an appointment on Sunday, but really hate to have to give them a brand new machine to get fixed. I'd rather just get a new one as it is a 2 hour trip each way to our nearest apple store.

Thanks,

Dave

Sep 13, 2008 8:44 AM in response to pjensen4

My iMac 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo has this problem:
Will NOT read MOST Audio CDS.
Will READ everything else it is supposed to read.
No other problems. (except "haunted startup" at 2:00 every night but that's another thread).

Any thoughts!? I'm confused how it can be so selective about what will and won't read. It's not like there's an "update optical drive software" function that'll make the drive work.

Sep 13, 2008 8:13 PM in response to pjensen4

One more of the same thing here. And my iMac is out of warranty. 😟

Has this been a big enough problem that Apple might fix it even out of warranty?

My drive has been working fine for the last 18 months (bought it late Jan, '07), but it began ejecting first one DVD (Roller Coaster Tycoon 3), now more prerecorded DVDs. And it does not accept the disks after 6 or so tries.

I was surprised to see how many others are having this problem. Looks like the 'Books are having troubles too.

Hope this doesn't affect my Mac Pro later!

Message was edited by: Michael Townsend4

Sep 15, 2008 4:54 PM in response to pjensen4

I have the same problem. It happened when i was using max ripper to rip a CD... then I opened iTunes to download a podcast. iTunes tried to access the CD that was being ripped and it made a loud spinning noise and spit the CD out. I re-inserted it and now I have the same symtoms you're describing. After inserting a CD or DVD, about 10 seconds later, it spits it out. It's out of warranty, and I talked to a guy at an Apple store who said it sounded like the drive would have to be replaced, and buying an external was a cheaper alternative. Luckily I already had an external drive so my old G4 laptop could burn dual layer DVDs, so this is an inconvenience... but now that I had some spare cash, I was entertaining getting it fixed when I discovered there were many others experiencing similar problems.

It's almost acting as if the EJECT button was being held down. (I havent tried using a second keyboard yet to see if the key is broken, but this is doubtful as I said it happened when ripping a CD). I have tried doing a clean reinstall, even though i was sure it was a hardware related problem... Is there any diagnostic tool to run to see if everything is functioning properly?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

David

Imac will not accept DVD's or CD's

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