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

New 27'' iMac with Snow Leopard

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N

I have been experiencing the same issues. DVD is not mounted&ejected half the time.

AT LAST!!!!!!! I think I may be on to something here.

First of all the problem:
I have the first generation of MBP's. This computer hasn't even flickered at me in a displeasing manner for three years now. I try to install Snow Leopard. It works for about 45 minutes and spits the disk out at me, leaving me with OS 10.5.7. Yeah, I did the software updates and the security updates.... probably a mistake. At any rate, since that dark, stormy night, the drive won't accept anything I throw in it.

My "experiment":
Today, I try throwing in a burned audio CD. The disc mounts successfully. I eject it, and mount a burned copy of the movie "Taken." Again, no problems. Then I try my purchased copy of "A Few Good Men" and BINGO -- it spat it back out at me. I tried my Leopard install disk, and the same thing happened again.

Possible Solution???
I use both of my Mac's for moderately intense video editing, and I like to think I am up to speed on video related stuff. I am thinking "Taken" worked possibly because it was burned with Popcorn and compressed to single layer. "A Few Good Men" was a purchased disc, and therefore most likely burned on dual layered media. Then, it dawned on me that Apple burns their install DVDs on dual layered media. See anything common here?!

I am thinking that the drive either:
1) Cannot focus its lens for dual layer media and needs to be replaced (or used for single layer ops)
2) The lens is dirty.

I ABSOLUTELY recommend others with this common issue to try my little experiment. I hope maybe it can help some of you out. I am a die hard Apple user and a huge fan, but I have to admit I was a little miffed when the "genius" looked up the serial number on my Mac, saw that it was 2 months out of warranty/AppleCare, and immediately resorted to, "the drive is bad and needs to be replaced." He was of course happy to offer me the opportunity to spend $250 for a new SuperDrive or $120 on a new LaCie external. Needless to say, I am willing to try some other options first :-D

So, can anyone recommend a good quality lens cleaner?



"I've never broken anything so bad that it can't be thrown away"

Thanx, this could be a solution.

Could you help me out: how do I change my region setting? Used the support site from Apple, wasn't very helful.

When the DVD-Region should be the source for that kind of problem: Why would it happen to me, when I never changed it, never had an intention for it, never searched or installed any tools with this intention and don't even know, where to change the Region?

Sometimes I was wondering, when the insert of DVD's asked for a language and then later i had to choose from another much shorter list the language again (with Apples DVD Player). (don't know, what Region-Codes all the DVD's had, i watched, guessed, they should'nt able to play something, when it would not have my Region (switzerland)). But, is it theoretically possible, that the first language/Country Selection (from Apple DVD Player) really was a Region-Settings change?

Then i really would like to know, how to reset that thing. It was never an intention or something i watched for, to cheat or change any Region-Codes. And there was nowhere any warning for changing possibly a Region-Code!

Does the Change of Region-Codes, after a specific number Deactivate a whole Super-Drive? And why would Apple's SL-Install Disc have or Use one of these, when i bought it in my country in an official Apple Store?

Please Help,


Tazmandevil

Same for me. I never changed the region setting before.
But this was a wild guess. I used DVD info X, this is the result:
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi (xvi@rpc1.org)

WARNING --- DVD Info X will only list DVD drives that have some WRITE
capabilities, like combos, DVD-R, DVD-RW, etc...
DVD-ROM-only drives will NOT be listed.
WARNING --- You also must eject any inserted medium to list the drive.

Vendor: HL-DT-ST
Model: DVDRW GSA-S10N
Firmware: AP09
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is SET
4 vendor resets left
4 region changes left
Region 1

Strange thing: I live in the region 2. NOT in region 1. I have never changed this, I dont know how.
Today I called Apple Support with 2 questions:
1. how is het possible that this value has changed anyhow?
2. how can I put this value back to region 2?

Apple support confitmed that I had to be in region 2. But as from os 10.5 there is no way tho change te region by hand.
I you insert a DVD from another region, thre should be a pop up window asking you to change the region.
In my case this is not happening.

Last advice from Apple support was to bring the laptop in to a service center.

I'am stil trying to change te region by hand. Can anyone help please?

Apple did say my officialy bought Snow Leopard DVD was region 2. because produced in Ireland.

interesting. Mine says the same, 4 changes left, except i'm Region 2 and have a Matsushita Drive:

Vendor: MATSHITA
Model: DVD-R UJ-846
Firmware: FQ3T
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is SET
4 vendor resets left
4 region changes left
Region 2

So it's not a solution for my Superdrive behavior.

Cheers,

Tazmandevil

CitationMonkey wrote:
...

So, can anyone recommend a good quality lens cleaner?

Hi, CM.

The one I currently use is a "dry" cleaner disc (which uses a little brush tuft to clean the lens) , sold under the brand name 'Crest", bought from a department store and sold for the purpose of cleaning both video players and computer drives (some of the computer only ones tend to get rapidly out of date because of OS incompatibilities, or are windows only). You run it using the Apple video player software on a Mac.

It has been doing the job of keeping the "out of warranty" drives in an iMac G5, two MacBooks, and a MacBook Pro operating properly for about three years now.

The symptoms you describe are very much those that I use as the indicator that my own drives need cleaning. DVD-DL's are, indeed, always the first to cause problems - initially for burning and then for reading. Some other symptoms are described in my earlier post in this thread at http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10458720#10458720

You may find you have to run the disc a couple of times, especially if the drive has never previously been cleaned.

If a drive has become VERY dirty then you can unfortunately reach a situation where even the cleaner disc won't play, though in my experience this is rare. In such cases one specifically designed for CD players will sometimes be a better bet.

As I've suggested elsewhere, for those whose drives are still under warranty or Applecare , don't follow this approach. Apple don't approve of cleaning discs and will simply replace drives that have got dirty during the warranty period. If your drive is out of warranty, however, using one can save you a lot of money for a replacement.

Cheers

Rod

I am hereby adding my voice to this enormous thread of complaint about these shoddy drives.

I have an MBP that is not quite two months old. Three days ago I was able to play a video DVD on the computer. Suddenly last night, when I insert a disk into the drive, it groans for a moment, and after about 2-3 seconds groans again and spits out the disc. This has been the case for any disc I inserted, including the system install discs that came with the computer.

I took the machine to my local Apple Genius Bar (Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax, Virginia) this afternoon. When the service tech inserted discs, the drive worked fine. He took the machine to the back, ostensibly to open it up and take a look. When he brought it back out it still worked fine. When I got it home, the first disc I inserted was rejected--as was each subsequent disc.

I assume this is the System Profile data on my drive:

NVidia MCP79 AHCI:

Vendor: NVidia
Product: MCP79 AHCI
Speed: 3 Gigabit
Description: AHCI Version 1.20 Supported

OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5960S:

Model: OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5960S
Revision: 2AP5
Native Command Queuing: No
Detachable Drive: No

PS: I have been an Apple Mac user since 1987. In the last 10 years I have owned a PowerBook Pismo, an iBook G4, and now a MacBook Pro.

The quality of these computers has steadily declined over that period. Now that I have a new $2,000 laptop whose optical drive is non-functioning after 7 weeks of ownership, I am about ready to spend $300 on an EeePC Netbook.

My wife's EeePC is working just fine over there, running Windows XP. When she needs an optical drive, she'll get one for about $90-100.

Shame, shame, ignominious shame on Apple!

Dave, yes that does sound frustrating, but if it worked fine in the shop then it is hard to know what else they could do in the circumstances.

It may be worth taking the computer AND the discs (especially the system discs) that refused to work in to demonstrate the problem yourself.

Cheers

Rod

True, I don't know what else the Apple Genius Bar guy could have done.

However, what else could Apple do under the circumstances? They could acknowledge that there is a fundamental problem with their optical drives and that their computers--which are far more expensive than other comparable laptops--contain substandard parts.

This thread is now 31 pages long. The problem with these drives has been documented for months. Yet no word from Apple about any of this.

Maybe Dave, but, as I tried to point out in an earlier post in this thread, Apple aren't on their lonesome with this. If you do a Google on similarly priced "Thinkpad" DVD drives you'll find that they have an even higher rate of problems than MBPs. If you do the same on Dell notebooks the number is some 18 times higher ( higher than the comparative sales ratio, in fact).

DVD drives, especially notebook ones, truly are the "weak link" in these systems regardless of brand. They are "old fashioned" mechanical devices, and exposed to the environment in a way that few other computer components are these days. By comparison the other important "mechanical" component - the HD, lives a life of luxury, sealed in a case , immune to the things we stick in them, protected from humidity, dust, cat hairs, pollen, dog hairs and cigarette smoke and the like.

The drives Apple use are the same as those in most other quality laptops - same brands, same models, etc etc. Yes, DVD drives have problems more often than any of us would like, but its the basic technology involved, not the brand, that makes this.

Try a Google on "Dell DVD drive not working" and have a look at the number of responses returned you will see what I mean! As I post it is 21 million and counting! This is NOT meant to be an attack on Dell, I hasten to add, but simply a comment on the obvious fragility of optical drives generally.

Cheers

Rod

From an earlier post by amb on page 29:

here's another tidbit:

superdrive problems:

http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/28/no.solution.over.horizon/


Sounds like they know, but as the article reads, they tell the techs to treat it as individual problems, and not admit its as wide spread as it is. 10.6.2 is coming out in the near future, and I hope apple addressed the issues in the update. I still do not trust the media though, so i guess take it for what you want.

On my third drive replacement- and this one seems to be acting like the first before it would spit out all media.

At first I assumed my problem was a mechanical problem. It sounded like it.

(And yes, Rod, I have used optical drives before. And yes, I know they are fragile mechanical devices. You don't need to teach me about the fragility of optical drives. Been using them for about 20 years now.)

But as I notice that my drive seems to have a different manufacturer from other drives that exhibit the same problem, I guess I would conclude that it probably is a software problem after all.

I hope 10.6.2 corrects it. I find myself surprisingly and unexpectedly bummed out today at the non-operation of my optical drive. There's a lot of things I need to be doing with my computer that I can't because of this problem.

(PS. Don't know why my signature still shows that I have an iBook G4. I've changed my settings two or three times.)