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

Mine is rejecting blank cds but seems to work with the stock of blank dvds I have, at least for the moment. One thing that is very frustrating is that it won't accept new audio cds, so I can't import songs to itunes. Seems to accept older cds. I have called Apple Support twice about this and gotten two separate answers. The first rep I spoke with said that Apple was aware of the problem and was working on a fix. He said basically that the problem was software related, had to do with information that is contained in newer media, and that the problem would eventually be fixed through an update. The second rep claimed no knowledge of any systematic problem and suggested I reset the pram, or, if that didn't work, taking the computer to the Apple store. After resetting the pram the drive would accept a cd--once--before the same problem then returned.

It's obviously frustrating to have such a significant problem with my computer--which, of course, really became noticeable only just after the warranty period ended. However, it is doubly frustrating that Apple has no coordinated response to this issue considering that it obviously is recurring among (at least) hundreds of users. And by they way, we have the same problem with a computer at work. I've personally owned 7 Macs that I've bought since 1985, and I've only ever bought Macs. But this is really testing my loyalty.

Same problem on my MBP. Although now and then the superdrive reads the Leopard Install DVD. Pretty Annoying. I hope it can be fixed by software update!!

Same trouble here on my old mini (1.6 Core Duo). I ended up installing SL off an external drive.

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846:

Model: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846
Revision: FM3J
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: No

MY Mac Mini will not burn DVD's at all. Never has done on either Tiger or Leopard. Very frustrating.
It will however play a DVD and burn Cd's...
because I never tried to burn a DVD until after the first year warranty was up I have missed out on getting this repaired.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:
Firmware Revision: FM3J

Great computer otherwise!

I'm having the same problem with my macbook pro.

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


I have noticed that if I put the computer to sleep or turn it off and let it physically cool down it does a little better at reading a disc. However, after it warms up, it can't read them anymore. To install snow leopard I had to shut the computer off, let it cool down and then install while the computer was cold. The computer had so much trouble reading the disc as it warmed up that it took a little over 2 hours to actually install.

I bought my iMac early 2006 and one year later.... MY SUPERDRIVE DIES!

I can hear the superdrive spins when i turn on my Mac, it took the disc, spins a while and eject them.
I'm member of the Mac User Group Argentina, and a lot of user in that group have or had the same problem.

My supredrive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846, and the firmware is FB2U.

When i call to the oficial reseller they told me that nothing could make the warranty expired.

Message was edited by: Marcelo Blackmac

Hey everybody,

Same problem here with the HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N.
Just adding my post to make the pile a little bigger.
Really think Apple should do something about this, never realized I had a problem b/c I almost never use the Superdrive.

Does anybody know if this could cause problems to the rest of your system, I'm asking b/c I'm already working on my 2nd battery and this also died. It didn't slowly go down in health but just died form one day. That's 2 batteries in 1,5 years and of course no warranty.
Apple refuses to do something about any of it..

All suggestions are welcome..

Cheers

well, I guess I am lucky I don't have this problem
updated to Snow Leopard using the upgrade disc - which some say is the same as the full retail?
then did the 10.6.1 update

Freehand MX was broken
battery life has been cut by nearly 40% (was 3+ hours) now 1.5 to 2 hours

reads / writes blank cd's - I am using some old memorex cd-r 52x 700MB/80min I got from Office Depot about a year ago

reads Snow Leopard install (obviously), reads Leopard install (made an external boot disc)

Odd thing happened when doing the Leopard external boot disc, it would not verify the media
Would say the media was dirty - which it was. I bypassed the verification the second time and had sucess. But XCode tools would not install from the DVD.

Here is my SuperDrive info from my
30 month old MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.12f5

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D:

Firmware Revision: KCVB
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media:
Type: CD-ROM
Blank: No
Erasable: No
Overwritable: No
Appendable: No

Guidingbyte, I'm right there with you. I installed Snow Leopard last night and now today my MBP 15 (original Intel model) won't read disks. I feel that SL hosed my Superdrive too.

SOMEBODY (Apple too!!!) Please help!!! Feel free to email me off list too. (jaymeachum@gmail.com)

Guidingbyte, I'm right there with you. I installed Snow Leopard last night and now today my MBP 15 (original Intel model) won't read disks. I feel that SL hosed my Superdrive too.

SOMEBODY (Apple too!!!) Please help!!! Feel free to email me off list too. <edited by host>

Add my voice to the pile: Macbook Pro 2.33Ghz with "GWA4080MA" superdrive. Now as useless as a useless thing which has been to Useless University, Uselessville, US(eless). The usual symptoms as described my many others. Yes, I'm now running Snow Leopard - installed by using an external HD on another Mac and cloning it back to the internal drive on the Macbook Pro.

The facts:

Superdrive:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA:

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA
Revision: AE39
Serial Number: K006AKD3342
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes

Mac:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro2,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.33 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP22.00A5.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.12f5
Serial Number (system): W86465SKW0H
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F2C76D55
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Updated List:

These are the drive models mentioned in this thread up until this post:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N (By far, the most often mentioned)
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N

Matshita DVD-R-UJ-825
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845E
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-85J
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-867
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875

MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8221
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-7170A
Pioneer DVD-RV DVR-K06A (mentioned twice or so)

Btw, has anyone tried going back to 10.5.x to see if the drive works again?

I'm on Tiger!

I remember a EFI Update few years ago that let my Superdrive "blind"...

@W. Raider,

My drive had the same symptoms as most of the other posters at the beginning of the thread, where I would put in a disc (audio cd, dvd, whatever) and it would spin up the drive a few times to try and read it, and then just automatically eject it. Sometimes after a few tries it would take, but finally after a while it would never have a successful read. This was all under 10.5. I was still covered under AppleCare and took my MBP to the Apple store and they sent it in to have the drive replaced. They replaced it with the same model, and now it works fine. After I upgraded to Snow Leopard (using the DVD) I still have no issues with the drive. For me, at least, the issue was unrelated to Snow Leopard and was just an issue with a failing drive (Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N, Revision: AP09). Again, it had the symptoms of spinning up the drive, trying to read it a few times, then ejecting it.

I know a few people are convinced the drive stopped working because of Snow Leopard. I'm sure there are cases where this is true (maybe it's less forgiving with read-errors?), but at least in my case with the above symptoms it was not related to the OS. Hopefully this helps others out there solve their issue. Cheers.

I'm still using Tiger as well.
Is there another company (besides Matshita) that makes a drive that will fit? Since I'm probably going to have to do this myself (I have no faith that Apple cares to help me), I'd rather not just use the same drive.