Gryff

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

The SuperDrive on my MBP has stopped recognizing/reading any blank DVD media (and many recorded DVDs, including movie discs). It spins for some time with a noise and then ejects it out. The same media works fine in my wife's Sony Vaio laptop.

 

There was a thread on this previously, but Apple has closed it:

 

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1295681

 

I know Apple won't own up to the problem, so has anyone found a solution?

 

----------

 

Drive details:

 

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

 

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision: AP09
Serial Number: K0***********928
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes

 

<Personal Information Edited by Host>

MacBook Pro - Intel Duo Core 2.4GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6), null

Posted on Sep 23, 2015 10:49 AM

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

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  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily Aug 5, 2009 3:33 AM in response to Rhys Evans
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 3:33 AM in response to Rhys Evans
    We're in chartered territory here: something (an update, a security update, something else?) rendered recent SuperDrives more sensitive to specks of dust and/or dirt on their lenses. From there, two possibilities:

    1) The dirt/dust on the lens isn't too thick, and your drive will let you run a cleaning CD, or will go on its own with compressed air. Good for you... Or

    2) You're too far down the dirt path (pardon the pun), and you can buy gold-plated cleaning CDs if you want, it won't change a thing, because your drive will spit ANY CD you insert in it, be it a cleaning CD, before it can do any good...

    I've belonged to the second category for several months before returning my MBP to the French retailer I bought it from, and they replaced the SuperDrive for free, since I had subscribed a long term warranty plan with them.

    My humble opinion is that some Apple update has lowered the tolerance to read/write errors due to dust/dirt in SuperDrives, especially the Mat(su)shita ones, and caused a lot of problems to unsuspecting end users as a result.

    And my beef is that Apple isn't communicating at all on the subject... Along the same lines, how much "coincidence" can you take when you learn that lots of people posting here tell us their SuperDrive stopped working shortly after the warranty ended...?
  • by doubleJoeJoe,

    doubleJoeJoe doubleJoeJoe Aug 5, 2009 6:05 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 6:05 AM in response to Gryff
    I have tried fixing the permissions in safe mode which did not work.

    Strangely enough my external Freecom DVD drive will except discs UNTIL I connect it to my MAC, it then 'chugs' and then ejects the disc!!

    My internal drive as I posted before always ejects all discs.

    Must be my mac but how do I solve it!!!??

    I will test the external drive on other computers. hmmmm
  • by pigats,

    pigats pigats Aug 5, 2009 2:19 PM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 2:19 PM in response to Gryff
    I have to add myself to this list. GSA-S10N drive on a less than 2 years old macbookpro is randomly accepting only VERY few dvds. I think we deserve an official answer to these embarassing issues.
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily Aug 5, 2009 9:38 PM in response to doubleJoeJoe
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 9:38 PM in response to doubleJoeJoe
    Have you tried resetting the PRAM/NVRAM, as explained below?

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
  • by Gryff,

    Gryff Gryff Aug 5, 2009 10:11 PM in response to OneCatFamily
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Aug 5, 2009 10:11 PM in response to OneCatFamily
    I have
  • by rwessels,

    rwessels rwessels Aug 7, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 7, 2009 11:53 AM in response to Gryff
    CONFIRMING someone's answer below. Simply spraying compressed air with the thin straw attached into the drive opening cleared something out and now the DRIVE WORKS AGAIN!

    THANKS to who ever suggested it! Yippee.
  • by Robboa,

    Robboa Robboa Aug 9, 2009 1:03 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2009 1:03 AM in response to Gryff
    Yep add me to the list too. just 1 month out of warranty and POW! it wont accept blank CDs or DVD's.

    This cant be purely a hardware (cleaning) issue, and all of a sudden effecting so many machines of varying ages. This is surely connected to the recent updates. Can anyone confirm that this happened before 10.5.6??
  • by oldtrout,

    oldtrout oldtrout Aug 9, 2009 8:21 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2009 8:21 AM in response to Gryff
    And another one! In my case it can't be a hardware problem as my MBP will mount non-Apple software DVDs (Canon camera and printer) but not Apple ones, including iLife 09 and Disc 2 of the install discs that came with the laptop when it was purchased.
  • by PatBe,

    PatBe PatBe Aug 10, 2009 12:59 PM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Aug 10, 2009 12:59 PM in response to Gryff
    well , add me there too, it's not the first topic about dead superdrive.
    mine is the infamous MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 , firmware HAEA, so well knowed to be the baddest laptop drive on Mac, as so many have it dead. Mine die after 65 DVD burns...
    just to say, i have an external cd burner since 2002, which have burn 1600 cd (yes, i'm on video and keep all my rushes.) and have verify them, so it 1600 burning, and 1600 reading..
    and that Liteon is still burning and reading, a bit less fast, that's all ( 24 x now)
    I'm a heavy smoker, but on the 8 mac around me, only the MBP have that issue.
    Matshita is Panasonic, I hope they will get bad advertisment on their products from all of us.
    btw, I didn't pay so much for a computer to not be able to burn after one year.

    I am SURE that it just come from dust, from a cooling problem, and not a real hardware problem.
    I didn't yet open it, but , looking at the dust under the battery, on the firewire, ethernet and usb right connectors, i'm quite sure that I will found if I open it, dust above, and under the lense, and maybe on the rails.
    I will keep you informed
    Of course, a firmware update can be responsible too, as I made a combo to 10.4.11, and my super drive had not accept any home made dvd or cd since that update.
    but, btw, whe have a lot of different system in that topic, so i really think it came from the cooling which bring dust inside the drive
  • by silverdragon10,

    silverdragon10 silverdragon10 Aug 12, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 12, 2009 5:21 PM in response to Gryff
    You can add me to the list.

    HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

    Firmware Revision: AP09
    Interconnect: ATAPI
    Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
    Cache: 2048 KB
    Reads DVD: Yes
    CD-Write: -R, -RW
    DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
    Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
    Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

    I insert disk makes some robot noises, and then ejects, It use to work then it was just BLANK DVD and CDRs it wouldn’t read now its everything.


    This is really a problem for me now because I cant use the system restore disk that came with the computer. I am having some hard drive issues and need to use the repair mode that you can use when you boot off the disk, but now I cant even load the disk!

    I am going to see a genius today, I hope he can help me, I have tried every thing you guys have suggested with the exception of the firmware flash.

    My computer is just over a year old and there is no reason this should be happening...
  • by Ed Voncken,

    Ed Voncken Ed Voncken Aug 13, 2009 12:30 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2009 12:30 AM in response to Gryff
    If your Superdrive (or any other optical drive) ejects the disc without properly mounting it, you're pretty much looking at a hardware (OPU) failure. Only after the drive recognizes the disc, is it mounted in the Operating System.

    My Superdrive was replaced a short while ago because of the exact same problem; a deteriorating OPU. At first, it would not recognize blank DVD+-R discs, then blank CD-R, finally pressed CD/DVD's. At that time, I sent it in again under AppleCare and had it replaced.

    From the symptoms you describe, the Mac OS software updates are not to blame here.

    Greetings,
    Ed.

    Message was edited by: Ed Voncken (tyops)
  • by stereointeractive,

    stereointeractive stereointeractive Aug 13, 2009 1:16 PM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 13, 2009 1:16 PM in response to Gryff
    I just saw a comment to an article on TUAW that mentioned this issue. http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/07/a-weekend-with-firewire/2

    I've never dropped my laptop before... But I have the same issue with CDs on
    my MBP. I found a workaround... The problem seems to be the motor gives out during low power
    spins, so when the cd being read or prepped for writing slows down, I tap somewhat hard above the
    cd drive with my finger. This goes on for about 30 seconds off and on. But it works everytime.
  • by barkplunk,

    barkplunk barkplunk Aug 13, 2009 6:29 PM in response to stereointeractive
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2009 6:29 PM in response to stereointeractive
    I am having the same problem with my MBP. I'm afraid the tapping strategy doesn't work. I may indeed try it again, considerably harder. Maybe with a hammer.
  • by coyote moon,

    coyote moon coyote moon Aug 13, 2009 7:40 PM in response to barkplunk
    Level 1 (75 points)
    Aug 13, 2009 7:40 PM in response to barkplunk
    I've watched this thread grow and grow since I added my name to the list just 5 months ago. I've been a Mac user since the early 80s and it's shameful that APPLE has simply chosen to ignore this issue. I have to agree with others, I don't see this as a software issue - and I've tried all the suggestions - cleaning disks, compressed air, etc. etc. all to no avail. (Have not tapped yet - more on that in a moment).

    The new PC commercials must be making some inroads. The comments like "it seems you're paying a lot for the brand" and the buyer walks out of the store with a Dell, or IBM, or whatever. Macs do cost more but I've always felt they were worth it.

    Once there was a huge software gap between the platforms but no more, anything I can do on my Mac I can do on a PC. I still don't like the evil Darkside but geeez, come on Apple - you're making it harder and harder for us to stick with you. Too often rather than doing what's right and stepping up to the problem, Apple makes you struggle along in the dark.

    Case in point. I just had a 5th gen ipod go bad. I was about to send it in for a $100 paid repair when another forum member found that Apple had recently admitted the problem I experienced was a technical issue and they are replacing those iPods at no charge... BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH, PERISISTENT ENOUGH OR JUST LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE PROGRAM. At least the auto industry makes it known publicly when there's a service or recall issue. As a registered owner of one of those model iPods wouldn't it have been nice to have received a notice from Apple alerting me to the issue and telling me of the problem resolution? But rather than do that Apple seems happy to let us consumers waddle along in the dark, throw out the bad iPod apparently sure in the knowledge that we'll go back to the well and blindly buy another. I'm sure someone at Apple is thinking right now, no big deal, he'll just come back and buy one of the new MacBook models. Well for me, the blinders are about to come off.

    Now that I've vented, fyi this is the 2nd drive to go bad in my MBP - I'm off in search of my hammer. As my dear father always said, if something isn't working, just give it a good WHACK!
  • by Gryff,

    Gryff Gryff Aug 13, 2009 8:48 PM in response to coyote moon
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Aug 13, 2009 8:48 PM in response to coyote moon
    coyote moon wrote:

    Case in point. I just had a 5th gen ipod go bad. I was about to send it in for a $100 paid repair when another forum member found that Apple had recently admitted the problem I experienced was a technical issue and they are replacing those iPods at no charge... BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH, PERISISTENT ENOUGH OR JUST LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE PROGRAM. At least the auto industry makes it known publicly when there's a service or recall issue. As a registered owner of one of those model iPods wouldn't it have been nice to have received a notice from Apple alerting me to the issue and telling me of the problem resolution? But rather than do that Apple seems happy to let us consumers waddle along in the dark, throw out the bad iPod apparently sure in the knowledge that we'll go back to the well and blindly buy another. I'm sure someone at Apple is thinking right now, no big deal, he'll just come back and buy one of the new MacBook models. Well for me, the blinders are about to come off.


    Can you point us to more information on this iPod issue?
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