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

For who wants to prove themselves in the trickery, I suggest to examine with much attention this link and relative zoomed photos:
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Jammed-Optical-Drives/772/1


That kind of photogallery gives me the spin for an attempt!
Regardless the lens, I've passed smoothly a glasses's cloth previously dropped with simple alcohol (I've wait that it evaporate quite a bit)

No way fo me to use all kind of products for cd cleaning lenses: before superdrive always spit out the discs!

cheers

Hi again sylven, and thanks for the extra link. I'd never noticed that particular guide on the iFixit site before. Very handy for various other situations, too, including those where little children "post" coins and the like into their parents' computer drives which crops up now and again! I'd never imagined it would be so simple. Always had visions of springs and moving parts flying off everywhere if I took the cover off the drive!

I've just found another blog/forum where someone successfully did just the same as you (see the post from Kevan R. Craft towards the end of the follow up discussion).

There are surprisingly few posts about such cures on the web. It is certainly worth considering for anyone whose drive is out of warranty or Applecare and who possesses the necessary skills and confidence to perform something like a drive swap in their MBP.

Cheers

Rod

same case and same drive, although mine would not read any DVD (the first trial was SL , never used it before and the MB is from April 08. I am not paying 250 EUR for the same MatSHIT that will end up failing again.

Hi people,

I used an air spray putting the plastic small tube inside the SuperDrive and throwing air into it moving the plastic tube at the same time, so the air flowed through all the drive.

Now I can burn CDs successfully again, even the verification process is ok. DVDs behavior has improved, since now I can burn them, but Disk Utility fails during the verification process.

Then I tried to remove the SuperDrive to open and clean it, but I trashed one of the screws that attach the SuperDrive to the MBP when I was trying to remove it (looks like I used the wrong screwdriver), so now I can not even replace the SuperDrive for a new, cheap, eBay one. Fortunately I almost don't use or need the SuperDrive, but now I can not install a Windows through BootCamp to enjoy the nVidia 9600 with Windows games.

Apple, a $2,990 (2,000 EUR) laptop that has something named "SuperDrive" should not fail that way, mine just had its first birthday...

Looks like the offensive amount of money that I gave to Apple is not enough for them, and I should have given $521 (349 EUR) more so my laptop can last for three years.

I just hope nothing else fails soon. My Dell Inspiron 8600, which has more than 5 years, still works like the day I bought it. My conclusion is that Mac OS X is much more than $29...

I'm afraid, and I feel really disappointed.

Sorry Bojan.

You tried cleaning the drive with compressed air, found that it improved things (suggesting that simply dirt was probably the problem) , and then embarked on the process of trying to remove the drive and clean it further, but stuffed up the job by using the wrong screwdriver. And this is somehow all Apple's fault???

Qué?

Ah! I get it. That was meant to be satire! Had me going for a while! Nice joke.

Cheers

Rod

Yep, I've got to agree with Rod on that one.

I've gotten frustrated sometimes with Rod's all-purpose suggestion for cleaning the drive for every problem. But if you did clean your drive, and it mostly worked, and then you lost a screw by trying to take the drive out yourself, then I can't see how you can hold Apple responsible for that particular issue.

Now, as to the issue of cheap drives on expensive computers, well, that's another matter.

[EDIT:] Wait, okay, I get it now. I will return to my little quiet corner of the room.

Message was edited by: Dave Shepherd

Hi Rod,

Of course breaking the screw it's definitely my fault. Forget the screw, I didn't say that was Apple's fault.

I think I clearly stated that Apple's fault is putting me in need of fixing the, one year old, almost unused optical drive named "SuperDrive" included in my very expensive laptop.

There are more than 500 posts about drives failing, _these drives fail_, and I spent a lot of money in that laptop, but obviously not enough to enjoy it for more than a year. 3 "problem free" years are a +20% Apple tax, because the huge amount of money I paid was not enough for Apple to give me a more than a year problem-free laptop.

Does somebody consider this acceptable? Fair? Do you think _I love my Mac_ after my, almost unused, "super" optical drive failing in a year? I can use my fingers (both hands) to count the number of discs that I have used into it.

Naming it "SuperDrive" it's ironic.

I was able to clean my drive too and even though it did not work immediately, I took the time to push a DVD in many times, the drive kept ejecting, until after some 8 tries the drive took it. (push gently, do not force). After a few more attempts with other DVDs, it seems I can make the drive read almost any DVD (including blanks) now. And to think I considered it dead.

A suggestion here: maybe it'd help in keeping the drive running if we kept a DVD inside at all times? I saw somebody else was suggesting this issue may be in part related to non-use...

Bonjan wrote:
There are more than 500 posts about drives failing, _these drives fail_, and I spent a lot of money in that laptop, but obviously not enough to enjoy it for more than a year.

Yeah, but 250 posts are by Rod telling people to use a magic disk cleaner :-/

This notion that the drive fails due to a lack of use seems asinine to me. But IF leaving a disc in the drive at all times helps (maybe it prevents any potential dust from settling on the lens?), it's worth a try. Heading out today to buy a disc cleaner.

Interesting I'll try that. I only pushed a picture dvd in 3 times. My Superdrive just started rejecting video and picture DVD's last week. Or at least I noticed it last week. It worked about 2 months ago. This week it seems to reject all dvd's. It did mount a data CD though.
I hope it's a software problem. Seems it happened after a software update.
My nearest Apple authorized or Apple store is 3 hours away each way.

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

Hi Marian,

It may well help, but one problem with leaving a disc in the drive all the time with a notebook is that it will reduce your charge life when on battery.

A "design problem" with slot loading drives generally, it seems to me, is that the material at the slot itself designed to "seal" the drive from the outside world can actually become a real dirt trap for dust, cigarette smoke fallout and the like. Of course when a drive hasn't been used for a long time all of this gunk can get transported into the drive in one fell swoop by the disk being inserted, potentially giving rise to at least some of the problems we are seeing here (and providing a potential physical explanation for the reason why some people who only rarely use their drives seem to suffer more than their fair share of problems).

Perhaps if people payed a bit of attention to cleaning the entrance of the 'slot" (or even sealed it if they only rarely use their drives) it might even reduce the incidence of dirt related optical drive failures? Ultimately, though, it is really a problem with the medium as a whole, in my view. With repeated insertion of discs exposed to the "outside world" it is always going to be too easy for a spec of something, or the gradual development of a bit of a film of grime, to develop over time thereby at the very least reducing the laser's effectiveness and focusing abilty especially when dealing with the "harder" media like double layer DVDs and the like.

I see this site has a few ideas on various lens cleaning processes, by the way.

Cheers

Rod

Message was edited by: Rod Hagen

Rod:

Your response to Marian and others is all well and good, but it doesn't explain why my MBP superdrive had issues right out of the box and died within 2 months of purchase. The replacement drive died shortly after my warranty expired -- two drives down in about 15 months. As a desktop publisher I use my drive all the time - many times a day is not unusual - I'm not a once in a while user. I'll buy that dirt may be the issue for some - but if we need to seal the slot entry then why didn't Apple build the computer with a door or cover for that purpose?

And cleaning may be a solution for some, but my drive won't even accept a cleaning disk. Nor do I recall any instructions in my MBP manual that suggests a cleaning routine for the drive - though some will say that's only common sense. The bottom line is no computer at these prices should have 2 drives fail within a little more than a year of usage.

Apple needs to own up to the huge and continually growing level of evidence that this is a design problem. Auto makers are no strangers to a recall procedure and from where I sit that's the only answer for Apple - I've been Mac exclusive since the first fat Mac - it's time they man-up. Their latest cutesy PC vs Mac commercial says they are tops in customer satisfaction -- my guess is they've not surveyed any of us posting to this thread.

Two rounds of running the lens cleaner has resulted in no change.

The problem that still occurs is that when I insert the OSX disc in the drive, it reads it just fine. But the Applications disc, after three minutes of spooling up and down, results in the system thinking it's a blank DVD. It's got the DVD part right.

As I said before, it's not the disc. It runs fine on my G4.

Turns out London Drugs has a certified Apple tech on staff, so I DON'T have to leave town to get this repaired. That's the good news..

And hey, regarding the open slot to the drive - dirt catching on the edges. I have also considered that to be a design flaw from the start. What SHOULD be incorporated in to the design, is a rubber cover similar to those found on devices like cordless phones (where you pull back the rubber cap to expose a headset jack). THAT would make a good seal for the drive, and greatly reduce dust from entering the drive bay.

coyote moon wrote:
Rod:

Your response to Marian and others is all well and good, but it doesn't explain why my MBP superdrive had issues right out of the box and died within 2 months of purchase. The replacement drive died shortly after my warranty expired -- two drives down in about 15 months.

Hi coyote,

One of the problems with threads of this kind is that people start thinking about it as a "general" problem, with a "one size fits all" solution. I'd like to make it clear that I DON'T think that cleaning the drives is going to sort out all of the different, but similar sounding, issues mentioned in this thread.

SOME of them will involve a problem like yours with your first drive, which does, indeed, sound like a hardware failure.

Especially when it comes to things like burning a DVD, though,

SOME of them will be due to media issues (people assuming that their drive is a dud because it won't burn a disc when all they really need to do is try a different brand or carting around a spool of discs all rubbing against each other in their bag for a month or two and then being blaming the drive when they don't work properly!)

SOME of them will actually be esoteric problems like difficulties in burning because of free space fragmentation on over-full HD's (a problem often exacerbated by the installation of a major OS upgrade, by the way, which almost invariably increases free space fragmentation quite substantially)

SOME of them will be due to people running five different things at the same time in the background at the same time as burning.

SOME of them will actually be due to underlying HD directory corruption.

A very small number might even be due to some sort of problem relating to interaction of a particular model of drive's firmware with a new OS version.

But MORE THAN A FEW (I'm guessing , of course, but I'd suggest the largest single percentage) will also be due to dirty drives. Whenever you see people talking about a progressive loss of ability to burn DVD's, then read them , then burn CD's , then even read CD's you can take a fair stab that this is what is involved (though it may also be exacerbated by a decline in laser performance over time because of heat or age).

Now , as you did in an earlier post, I get frustrated when people put all of this down to things like the need for an OS upgrade and get surprised when the next one doesn't fix their problem! Or by some sort of assumption that it must be an inherent and specific defect in the Apple drives themselves (which come from a range of manufacturers and are also used in a variety of other laptops) . Or that essentially "their" problem is the same as "everyone else's problem" when there are probably at least half a dozen different real causes of the problems mentioned in this thread alone.

I suggest that people try cleaning the drive first if their computers are out of warranty because it is way cheaper than replacing the drive. It works for some, and of course it doesn't work for others, but it is a cheap fix for those who find it works, and , in good "troubleshooting" fashion, helps to at least partially eliminate one of the more probable causes of problems early on in the process if it doesn't (though when people say the problem has progressed to the point where their drives can no longer read even CD's then a cleaning disc obviously won't be much help to them even if the cause is simply grot!) .

An argument could be made that rather than letting this thread ramble on its merry way it would be better to start a new one with a bit more structure to it.

Before posting in it people reporting optical drive problems could, perhaps, be asked to ensure that:

1) If their problem relates to burning primarily they have tried different brands of clean, new, media
2) that they have attempted to clean their drive lenses if they are out of warranty
3) that they have plenty of free space on their HD's (if the issue relates to burning)
4) that they know which particular brand and model of drive is fitted in their computer so they can post it in the thread.

It would be far more informative, I think, than this current hodge podge of different issues and different potential solutions all rolled into a single rambling entity, which must confuse anyone who comes along who just happens to be having a problem with their own drive no end!

Cheers

Rod