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

after installing snow leopard my 2yo (Nov 2007) iMac wouldn't eject my DVD! I had to have Apple replace the optical drive... is there a correlation between installing snow leopard and the optical drive shutting down?

Having the same problem here with my macbook pro ( Late 2007 model )
It just does not want to mount a DVD or DVDR, it takes several tries to mount and has some playback issues saying that it is skipping over defective areas.
Strange that the dvd plays fine on my dvd player attached to the TV.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:

Haven't been able to write a disk in my iMac for some while, definitely faulty hardware but can not face the hassle of getting it repaired. Plays OK. Haven't installed SL yet.

I have the same issue. However it only involves DVD-/+DL. Regular DVDs and CDs seems to be OK. I will take my MacBook Pro to apple store since I still have extended warranty, we'll see what they say about it.

i have a similar problem as everyone else here, bought about 2 years ago. i previously have had 2 HDD failures on top of my superdrive's problem, the first was covered by warranty and the second and most recent crash, i had to send it down to my local registered apple tech guy to have it fixed, and at the same time have a quick look at my superdrive.

according to him, it is most likely spoilt and he has no explanation or so to it. strange enough, it reads+writes data cds and dvds but doesnt automount and does not eject (only after i feel like breaking the keyboard into two, then it decides to spit it out). well from this forum thread i believe im not the only one facing this problem and obviously i wouldnt try to eff up my superdrive. nonetheless, i had to boot snow leopard via usb and its done using another mac to do so via disk utility.

obviously the superdrive is beyond help and getting a new one is not much of a worth i must say. unless some magic appears that apple decides to NOT charge for this, of which i will be surprised.

My HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N drive has been about a 50/50 crap shoot mounting both CDs and DVDs, going back to the last few point versions of 10.5. I had mostly written it off as damaged media, as I mostly use music and movies from the library in the drive. however, I have had nearly new media not mount, and fairly beat up media mount fine, so pretty sure it relates to the current issue.
Hope all this actually gets to Apple Engineers.

Gordon

I had an Aluminum macbook late 2008 model and i had the same Optical problem. The drive would spit out cd's and dvd's which were clean as a whistle. I thought the problem was always with the discs and not the optical drive itself. But i have found out this later and it seems to me a lot of people have the same problem.My macbook white and blacks were fine. I have a new 13inch macbook pro now which seems to be fine.But, again i haven't tested the Optical drive extensively. I have sold the said macbook to a friend not knowing that it had an Optical drive problem. Well, i ll tell him to take to an Apple store bcz its still under warranty.

I had this same problem too. I tried watching SuperBad on my MBP and it was making a lot of weird noises. After rebooting it several times it finally ejected the DVD. I tried inserting a blank dvd to be on the safe side and it would eject it right away. I couldn't take it any longer and I took my MBP into the Valley Fair Apple Store. I told the Apple Genius it was working correctly after installing snow leopard. He told me the drive is old and has failed because of age which is crap. So he told me the best thing to do was to have it replaced and it would cost about $400 for a new drive because my warranty is already up. $400!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked him if I could buy the external drive for the macbook air and use that on my MBP and he said it won't work. He also pointed out that my MPB is damaged because the shell has been popped open because I had to replace a fan (yes those also crap out). He advised me to replace that as well and said that would cost $700!!!!!!!!!! He told me the best solution is to go out and buy a new macbook pro. I told him I will repair the **** thing myself. And so I did. I opened up my Macbook Pro again, unscrewed the Super Drive and opened it up. I moved a few pieces around, put it back together. Did some testing and wah-lah!!!!!! My Drive now works fine, went back to the Apple Store and told that Genius to go back to College because he doesn't know anything.

I have the same drive and the same problem, so you are definitely not alone.

Hey,

I was thinking I was the only one getting this issue. On my not so old "black" macbook '06 (v.1,1), which I still use as my main computer, I've realised the DVD became picky just after upgrading to Leopard. The time it took me to understand there was a problem with it, the applecare plan was gone. At the beginning the drive would insert, painfully read and eject cds and dvds at random occurances. After the upgrade, It would just do insert and eject systematically.
I've long resigned to use it, and I installed SL over Firewire using my macmini as a target drive (and target superdrive).

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Drive details:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 :

Révision du programme interne : HBEA
Interconnexion : ATAPI
Gestion de la gravure : Oui (lecteur livré par Apple)
Cache : 2048 Ko
Lecture de DVD : Oui
CD gravables : -R, -RW
DVD gravables : -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Stratégies d’écriture : CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

My IMAC with DVD drive MATSHITADVD-R UJ-875:

will not allow install of Snow Leopard, also has trouble reading movies and doesn't burn CD-R music.thought it was just my drive, and have been too busy to bring in for repair

Count me in...I'm having the same problem as detailed by so many people here. At first the drive stopped burning CDs and DVDs, and has gotten progressively worse at even mounting a disc when it is put into the drive; more often than not it spits it right out. It started happening with about a month of my 2 years warranty ending....pretty good timing, eh?
my drive details are:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

Firmware Revision: AP12
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

HELP!!!!!

One more for me. I`m also having the same kind of problem: disks not mounted, superdrive spitting disks and so on. I had to start the Snow Leopard installation wizard 4 times before one actually worked.

My drive is HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N, Firmware Revision: AP12

Same here... Apple had better be listening... My imac is one month over the warranty and guess what??? super drive reads only occasionally if at all. The folks at the store said sorry if only you had bought an extended warranty... Why won't Apple just admit they're making a substandard product??? I've barely used my drive and this??? Really, Really, disappointed in apple and the quiet stonewalling of an obvious build quality problem. I'd say PC's are catching up in this area...

Let's see, 350.00+ to pop the front of my mac to replace a lame drive because it's one month over warranty???

Shame on Apple...

Same drive as you( MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E) but will not eject my disc completely then ***** it back in! Almost impossible to remove any disc.