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

I've had problems with the Superdrive on my Macbook Pro (late 2008) almost from the beginning. It selectively rejects CD's and DVD's for no apparent reason. If I continue to insert them and press the eject button simultaneously, they will sometimes mount. Even when they do, the results are questionable. I inserted one of the new remastered Beatles disks yesterday, finally got it to mount, and saw the first three song titles in English and the rest in what appeared to be either Japanese or Korean. I'm taking it in and since I'm covered with AppleCare, I should be able to get a replacement (I hope). At first I spent plenty of time cursing the disks at I though they were the problem. After viewing these forums, it's clear that Apple has a big hardware issue on their hands. It's time for them to admit it and get on with the fix.

@ W. Raider :

I've tried going back to 10.5.6 as well as 10.4.1. The problem remains. And since the issue with my drive started months before SL launch or later installation, I'm more inclined to think its not an issue with SL. Atleast in my case. I might be wrong but my hazy memory reminds me that my MBP started having problems after I ran the Mac OS Combo update for 10.5.x. Post that I've had to replace my Logic Board twice & this is another one in the list of ailments. Seriously considering going back to PC. My 4 year old HP Laptop is still functioning perfectly fine without a single repair ever!!!

I have the HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N super drive. This problem is quite annoying. Sometimes it will accept blank DVDs to burn, most of the time it doesn't. This is a royal PITA when trying to burn a session that spans more than one disk. Installing SL had no effect on the super drive.

I'm having the same issue. My MacBook is from late 2008, and the DVD drive has not been used much at all, maybe a dozen times. I noticed the issue when I attempted to install Snow Leopard, got a replacement disk, and had the same issue. It was sporatic at first, but now it ejects the disk "without fail," so to speak.

I agree, and hope that Apple owns up to this issue and offers a solution to those that are suffering from the obviously shoddy hardware and/or driver.

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-867E
Revision ZF1E

Apple: Contact me if you need more information, as I'm anxious to see a fix for this issue.

I have an old Mac Mini with SL that rejects (now?) any burned media, but manufactured store-bought media mounts and plays as expected. I can pop a DVD-R with files on it into it and it churns for a min or so then spits it back out, then popping that into another Mini with 10.5.x it'll mount in a moment. But they are two different drives:

The fail drive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 with 10.6.1
The working drive is a PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06 with 10.5.8

I'm inclined to think that it's not a SL problem but that it's a mixture of a few things:

A: People don't really use their optical drives that often. And popping in the SL update just alerts them to the issue that their optical drive is or has been flakey. (And possibly the manufacturers fault)

B: SL is less tolerant of read/write errors so rejects more disks. Akin to the infamous firmware update that caused many MacBook owners to suddenly loose a stick of 3rd party ram.

C: SL messes with the firmware of the drives, although there's no real evidence for this that I've seen yet.

D: SL alters the way the OS looks at optical media or interfaces with optical drives. The OS may not be commanding the drives correctly due to some bug in SL.

Still, with so many failures and mentions here something sure seems to be up. Especially with the HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N drives.

Like others, my problem isn't that the drive rejects every DVD/CD, it's that it rejects some DVD/CDs, but not others. Or may reject one at first, then it will accept it.

I am running Leopard 10.5.8 (haven't attempted to upgrade yet), but it doesn't seem to matter which version. I've also tried removing the HDD and installing a previous drive that had 10.5.5, but I got pretty much the same results.

Late 2008 MacBook Pro, 15.4", 2.53GHz
Matshita DVD-R UJ-868
Firmware Revision: KA14

The very same behaviour shows up here, I mentioned that already in another thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10097209#10097209

The Apple support said at the telephone one month ago that a repair/replacement of the drive does not fall under warranty. I've bought my MBP 6/2007. I asked and got an offer by mail: The replacement would cost about Euro 400 here at the official Apple repair center.

I am glad that the topic comes up now at Apple Insider, MacUser.de, mactechnews.de and other media. Apple should care about. I had two huge repairs already (display, logic board-nvidia case) but the service was perfect and everything under warranty. But as long as my superdrive is defect I can't recommend MacBook Pro any more.

Drive details:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Firmware-Version: ZA0E
Verbindungstyp: ATAPI
Brennen möglich: Ja (Laufwerk von Apple geliefert)
Cache: 2048 KB
DVD lesen: Ja
Beschreibbare CD: -R, -RW
Beschreibbare DVD: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Schreibstrategien: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO


MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E:

Modell: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857E
Version: ZA0E
Seriennummer:
Absteckbares Laufwerk: Nein
Protokoll: ATAPI
Einheiten-Nummer: 0
Socket-Typ: Intern
Low-Power-Polling: Ja
Ausschalten: Ja

Yup, time to join the list. Apple graciously replaced my first gen MBP after three Superdrives failed and were replaced. I was good to go for almost a year, then the problem recurred with the replacement laptop. Now I'm unable to upgrade to Snow Leopard; I'll need to remote install from an 8 year old Dell laptop because at least that drive works.

The real kicker: turns out I can't get this fixed under Apple Care because I didn't transfer my Apple Support from the old laptop to the replacement they sent me ... bit of a white elephant no? Now it's been more than a year so they won't honor the Apple Care transfer.

Remind me why they haven't recalled these SuperDrives? I really appreciated the laptop replacement, but turns out nothing is free after all ... sigh

Add me to the list. MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E in a MacBook Pro. Unable to read DVD-R after 10.6 update. I don't recall trying after 10.5.7. Mine will write to DVD-R (so far) but will not read them.

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N :

Modèle : HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Révision : AP12
Numéro de série : K7R83CA4912
Disque amovible : Non
Protocole : ATAPI
Numéro de l’unité : 0
Type de socket : Interne
Scrutation de faible puissance : Oui
Éteindre : Oui

this is my third dvd burner that fails. I'm system X.5.7. I decided not to use rennoncer and apple as the AppleCare is valid. These drives are a calamity

Just throwing my hat in the ring. I got my Superdrive replaced after it stopped reading DVDs. Now it reads alright (usually, still some thrashing->ejects) but tends to abort burning halfway through on all CDs. Those it finishes are written with tons of errors too. I've changed out CD brands. Some brands won't even get recognized as blank disks. The same disks burn fine on other machines.

Apple needs to get with it on this optical drive issue. It's pretty clear that something has gone wrong in terms of quality assurance on the superdrives. From personal experience, I'd say the failure rate is around 2/3rds of all Macbook Pros if you count the drives like my second one with burn reliability issues and occasional disk rejection.

Same problem here, I can't write dvd's, and quite often can't read dvd-r discs (factory dvds always work).
The problem appeared first in Leopard a year ago. It persists on Snow Leo.

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision: AP09
Serial Number: KZ076KM2348

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version (system): 1.16f11
Serial Number (system): W87310NTXAH
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-001B63957802

CD/DVD burning is DEAD!

Apple is helping to reinforce this idea in many different ways.

Nothing to see here, move along, and quit burning CD/DVD's–that is so 1999!

Backup HDD FTW, in the eyes of Apple and the "social engineers" of our time.


BTW, this issue is absolutely a purposeful software glitch that mimics a hardware problem....

And all the sanctioned voodoo, for years now, is unbelievable:
1. Disk Drive Cleaner Voodoo
2. Specific manufacturer of DVD medium voodoo
3. even more specific voodoo like Verbadim from India bad but Verbatim from singapore good....
4. other voodoo I cannot think up right at the moment....


I also think apple picked a certain group of people to punish with this "medium write error" hog-wash....THE REAL VOODOO MAGIC IS IN YOUR PREFERENCE FILES!!!!

FIGURE OUT THE VOODOO MAGIC OF YOUR PREFERENCE FILES (AND WHICH ONES TO DELETE, AND NOT HAVE THE SPECIFIC BAD APP RE-GENERATE THE SPECIFIC BAD-BOY PREFERENCE FILES AND YOU HAVE FIGURED OUT THE MAGIC.

I now burn Dual Layer DVD from absolute crap media with a 100% burn success rate, and I have never cleaned my superdrive with compressed air, ever...................

take that to the bank,.

doug in albq wrote:
THE REAL VOODOO MAGIC IS IN YOUR PREFERENCE FILES!!!!

FIGURE OUT THE VOODOO MAGIC OF YOUR PREFERENCE FILES (AND WHICH ONES TO DELETE, AND NOT HAVE THE SPECIFIC BAD APP RE-GENERATE THE SPECIFIC BAD-BOY PREFERENCE FILES AND YOU HAVE FIGURED OUT THE MAGIC.

So which are the bad voodoo preference files?

I agree with you about that one Doug, but many of us still use the drives to do associated work...

yes please do enlighten us as to the anti voodoo doo doo cure....

Apple obviously isn't listening to the 25+pages of LOYAL customers getting screwed yet again... despite all the emerging complaints on the web.

I bought my imac for it's elegance, the software and design... NOT for the p o s superdrive that can't read a disc made in 1995 or 2009. I'm starting to believe for apple it's all about the wrapper...