Drive won't read any dvd-ejects it automatically after spinning some time

I read the TidBits article mentioned a few posts ago. In reading some of the comments I found this link:

http://muzso.hu/2008/08/17/how-to-clean-the-lens-of-a-slot-loading-optical-drive -a-macbook-pros-superdrive?page=1

The article here describes a user who took his MBP apart, opened the optical drive, cleaned the lense and reinstalled - and it WORKED! Several commentors to this article apparently have done the same and/or simply used an alcohol swab and/or alcohol saturated Q-tip right thru the slot opening and have had some success.

I've not tried it yet but I just pass it along as another possible fix for some. I continue to believe Apple does us all a disservice as consumers to turn a blind eye to this problem, but maybe this 'fix' will help some. The article includes some good photos too.

Hi

Im another sufferer of Apple Macs cheap chinese parts. I've had my macbook for 3 years now and have never been able to play "The Simpsons". Though it will play most dvds, it does annoy me a lot that certain dvds will not play. They need to sort it out or replace everyones macbook for FREE!!!

Come on Apple thought you better than the self building PC?

My MacBook Pro 17 was made in January 2007 and I am on my third "superdrive". I thought it was just me with problems such as being unable to mount a freshly burned DVD or being unable to eject a CD or DVD. Let's hope that Apple already knows what the problem is and will keep it out of future product.

I had Apple Care until June of '09 and my drive started acting strangely somewhere just after. I thought it was just a couple of fluke incidents, but when I bought the Snow Lep disc it became apparent that it was nearly all DVDs. My hard drive went out right in the middle of my Apple Care and just began configuring my desktop icons in strange patterns that would change at weird times. It was like the desktop was "possessed". I took it in twice and the second time they swapped out drives. It has worked fairly well since. However I still couldn't believe all the posts regarding the optical drives acting "possessed" as well. It's very strange how many noticed right after warranty periods! I just bought my second Macbook after my 6 month old new one was stolen. Mac claimed that they would help me locate it but after I filed a police report the story changed completely. I almost bought a PC due to the very low prices, but I remained loyal to Apple. It's getting harder to remain loyal. I hate to admit it, but it is true. If you get a PC and two different drives go out and must be replaced, then the cost is still lower than Apple. Something to think about.

Thought I would add my woes to the list. 🙂 I've a 19 months old MBP. Started having problems with burning Dual Layer & Single Layer DVD's 6-7 months back.

No problems with burning/playing CD's. No problems with reading/playing DVD's(both SL & DL).

DVD SL it only burns on Sony discs. Gives medium write error on any other media(including Memorex, Moser Baer, even Verbatim).

DVD DL, it refuses to burn any brand media. It either just spins & ejects the media or recognizes it & later gives errors in burning.

Since I'm out of warranty, I've tried numerous fixes I've found in forums like this - Blowing compressed air, Repairing permissions, New Login account, Disc Cleaner, & in a desperate measure even flashed the drive firmware(thrice!!!) & I still have the same problem.

Now taking it to apple service center tomorrow. Lets see what they have to say. 😉

Drive details :
Model:HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision:BP10
(this is after the 3rd flash. started with AP09, then to A103, then to BP10)

Serial Number:K1U7AUI1328
Detachable Drive:No
Protocol:ATAPI
Unit Number:0
Socket Type:Internal
Low Power Polling:Yes
Power Off:Yes

Crazy ... My old drive wouldn spit out blanks ... I got a new one via AppleCare, not this one does blanks ok, but spits out recorded ones ... This is such a pain in the neck and time waist.

Maybe Apple will just throw out Optical drives next, like it did with floppy back in the days ...

A disgrace ...

Rather then drop the change and lose my Mac Pro for a week, I found a work around to installing Snow Leopard. I imagine there are a few of you in the same boat as me, just want SL installed, can download everything else you need? Simply use an external hard drive, get a buddy to create a dmb of the SL disk, partition an external drive as GUID so it is bootable, restore the image to the drive using disk utils, option boot from the disk, and, well the install worked as normal for me. Now I can just wait for the next rev of the Mac Book Pro, as planned.

Too right... Or its equivalent in local currency... Shame on them...

My problem is a little different: my drive reads dvd's but will not mount a blank dvd! When I tried to burn a dvd from iDVD, I got a message stating that my superdrive was not supported (whatever that means) - so while I could work in iDVD, I would not be able to burn a dvd! Which is the whole point of working in iDVD.

I don't understand how Apple can rhapsodize about the fun of making movies and then make a superdrive that will not burn them!

So the service center guys say the drive is beyond repair & i need to get a replacement. Which is going to cost me(no apple care & out of warranty). They are offering me an exchange price of INR12,300(roughly 250US$). Guess i'll manage with SL DVD's for some time till i can save up to change the drive.

Just curious, anybody tried physically opening the drive? 🙂

Add another MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 on a MacBook Pro 15" running 10.5.6 to the list, to which we hope Apple will respond. When purchased, it not only wouldn't load basic Mac disks, it gave great difficulty ejecting them. As this was in the first year of the model's appearance, I was able to get the optical scanner replaced under warranty, with only loss of time.

Alas, the new scanner also proved touchy. It whirred & rejected Leopard disks after three tries, so I got them installed at a luckily nearby Apple store (London). Now, further from such a store, I try to install Snow Leopard with identical result. (Trying it on other disks to hand, it sometimes work on disks I've loaded before, mostly not.)

Im seriously switching ... Thats enough.
If the computer dos't work then it should at least look ugly as well ...

I'm adding a "me too" because I think it is important Apple realizes the scope of this problem. MacBook Pro 15"2.16 GHz MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857. Will not recognize Snow Leopord or Leopard disks. Reads CD's, mp3s, Filemaker Pro Install disks, etc.

Something is definitely wrong with these drives. I tried the firmware fix, et al and nothing works.

What "Firmware Fix" did you try? I've been trying to revert to the original Firmware(AP09 in my case) but not able to.