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

Another Update on my status:

As I mention earlier, I did manage to get my drive to work with a cd/dvd cleaner + air ..... But it's very intermittent. Basically, now, it works every 30-40 tries which is painful to go threw.

I really wonder what the actual issue is. Maybe I'll try a Wet CD/DVD cleaner...Maybe maybe not.

I also opened up my MBP to get to the DVD drive to make sure it wasn't dirty.. no dust at all. Perfectly cleaned...

Very strange.

Dirty drives can´t be the only explanation, as Apple replaced my HL drive with a supposedly brand new HL drive, having also properly cleaned all dust from my MBP. The new HL drive nonetheless failed to load DVD+/-R disks of any brand.

Getting the HL drive replaced with a Matshita drive is the only solution that has actually worked for me.

Sadly I've seen nothing in this thread to suggest a real solution - certainly a Matshita drive isn't it. My original Superdrive failed almost immediately upon purchase - it was replaced under warranty with a Matshita UJ857D which also failed after several months. Unlike many here, I load and use the drive - well I used to - quite frequently.

I've gone external on both my MBP and my iBook while I someday hope Apple will come to a solution for us all.

Hi Guys. I have solved the problem for me. 3 months ago my Super Drive stoped reading (would not mount) any DVDs that I had burnt, either on my MacBook Pro or others Macs.

I could still read purchased DVD's, music, movies etc. After spending a few days reading this thread and others I had decided to purchases a New Super Drive.

However, I decided to take out my Super Drive to try and cleaning it ( as suggest in some of the threads). This was not that hard when I followed the instruction at http://www.powerbookmedic.com/manual.php?id=2. NOTE IF YOUR NOT GOOD AT TAKING THING APART, TAKE PHOTOS AS YOU GO AND PUT EVER SCREW FROM EACH ASSEMBLE PROCESS IN A SEPARATE DISH.

After taking out the Super Drive I then took the top of the Super Drive itself. There are 4 or 5 screws on the top of the Super Drive itself and then two screws on the side of the super drive itself. The 2 screws on the side also hold a mounting bracket. Be very careful separating the Super Drive GENTLY GENTLY does the trick. Do not force anything.

Then I got out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed out the super drive while brushing the components with the softest brush I could find. I then cleaned the tiny optical lens with a lint free reading glass cloth. I DID NOT USE ANY LIQUIDS. PUT THE SMALL SCREWS WELL OUT OF THE WAY OR THEY MIGHT END UP IN THE VACUUM CLEANER.

I then put the whole thing back together. Take your time do not rush, gently gently does the trick.

*MAKE SURE YOU'RE OUT OF WARRANTY IF YOU DO THIS, AS IT WOULD PROBABLY VOID THE WARRANTY.*

My Super Drive is now working as good as new. I am not saying that this will work for every body but it worked for me. Best of Luck. PeterBill

Hi,

I turns out that the problem is clearly related to the lens getting dirt. Lot of the users who tried to clean it using a lens cleaner disc or getting in apart to clean it directly have reported success (including me).

However, I don't understand why those drives are so prone to fail due to this. I never saw drives getting dirt so fast. The fact that the drives are slot loading type should not be the reason. I use such drive years ago (though it was a cdr drive) that never showed such problems...

I believe that a firmware upgrade could help... The ball is in Apple / Panasonic camp.

Technically speaking, I always have used a qtip with pure alcohol (90°)

Good luck !

Matthieu

Its me again, the vacuum cleaner man. *THE MOST IMPORT FIRST STEP FOR REMOVING THE SUPER DRIVE* is to purchase the correct size screwdrivers. That is a Phillips #00 Screwdriver and a Torx (r) T6 Screwdriver. Don't stuff up your Mac by rounding of the screws, just because you're to enthusiastic to get on with the job. Cheers PeterBill

After much consternation, experimentation and isolation I think I've figured out the problem with my particular MacBook Pro 15" Intel early version, running 10.4.11 that has trouble reading CDs and DVDs. I also feel the need to apologize for my earlier post of a 'magical' and all too easy fix.
The real culprit seems to be excess heat. When I first crank my machine up, and it's cool, my computer reads, and writes CDs, and DVDs. When things heat up, the Superdrive goes into 'shock,' slows down, and gives up. I have a new battery, so the machine is not always plugged in, therefore I've ruled out that line of reasoning. If anyone has a sure-fire way to keep their machine cool, I'd really like some help. Otherwise, it seems that an external Superdrive is the answer.

I have the same problem with mine too, my Macbook Pro doesn't read DVDs it just spins then ejects them over time but it will read an audio CD (Ripped one to iTunes checking yesterday) Only solution I haven't tried is the DVD cleaner/Air, everything else didn't work.

Here's some info on my Macbook and my Drive:

MAC OS X Version 10.4.11

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 (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version: 1.16f11
Serial Number: W873**XAH
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Firmware Revision: ZA0E
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

I would like to know how to fix this because it won't even read my Snow Leopard Install DVD and I'm trying to do an OS upgrade

As I type this, this thread of complaint against Apple about these crappy drives is 41 pages long. There are 607 replies to the original poster.

I have been a Mac user for 23 years, and I have never imagined that so many of us would be shouting over and over again about how shoddy and substandard this expensive equipment is.

Right on, gryff. When people tell me to "deal with it," that "these things happen," it makes me mad. It never happened to me between 1986 and 2009, I can tell you that.

Cupertino, we have a problem.

I am using a nearly 4 year old rev A core duo MBP, having the same issue since upgrading to snow leopard. Tried to burn an MP3 CD using blank CD-R's and i get a spin up and wind down about 3x, then the disc ejects. Drive was able to read DVD and data discs fine, just wont accept blank media.

The canned air trick worked to temporarily fix my drive. Used a canned air with straw to blow around inside the drive, and seems to be working. It still doesnt seem 100% though, as occasionally it will eject blank media. Still better than spending $100 on a new drive. Thanks everybody!

I also was having problems getting my drive to recognize any disc. I did what was posted here (peterbill - opened up optical drive) and so far I haven't had any problems. Thx

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: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Message was edited by: hakjak

I have same problem; Mine is macbook 2nd generation.
I used cd-rw very little, now it is not working at all.
After some spinning, it eject every cd/dvd. I think something wrong with hardware.


MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8221:

Firmware Revision: GA0K
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw

I realize this is a MacBook Pro thread, but my early 2009 Mini optical drive is doing the exact same thing. Any disc, CD, DVD, Install DVD included with said Mini, ALL make the same grinding noise for a minute or two and then spits the disc out. I bought the Mini March 31, 2009, and have barely used the drive. Today I opened the included install DVD for the first time, as Disk Utility kept crashing, in an attempt to check my main hard drive and no luck.

I've been using Macs since my first beige LCIII way back in the 90's and I've NEVER had a piece of included hardware just up and die on me SO quickly! I've lost optical drives before, but even my slot loaders in my old iBooks and G4 PowerBook lasted a good 4 years before I had to replace them.

I didn't buy AppleCare so I don't know if Apple will help/fix this issue (my Mini is almost 10 months old) for free or not. Unfortunately the Mini is the first Mac I've owned that I do not feel confident about taking apart on my own to replace the optical drive, just looks way more difficult than a laptop.

Will try a cleaning CD, but from all the previous posts in this thread, I won't get my hopes up too high.

PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS08:

Firmware Revision: Q81B
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2000 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

artgrrrl wrote:
I bought the Mini March 31, 2009, and have barely used the drive. Today I opened the included install DVD for the first time, as Disk Utility kept crashing, in an attempt to check my main hard drive and no luck.

I've been using Macs since my first beige LCIII way back in the 90's and I've NEVER had a piece of included hardware just up and die on me SO quickly! I've lost optical drives before, but even my slot loaders in my old iBooks and G4 PowerBook lasted a good 4 years before I had to replace them.

The slot load drives in your old iBook and PB would have been trying to do much less than the DL drive in your mini, artgrri.

Current optical drives have to work at crazy speeds (far faster rpms than your hard drive).

The fact that you have "barely used" the drive may actually be part of the problem. Optical drive that don't get much use can develop a film on the lens that might not have upset your older, slower, drives, but are more than enough to throw the higher performance drives of today out of kilter.

Try a cleaning disc and hope that it won't be too long before old mechanical technology like optical drives gives way to less vulnerable mediums!

Cheers

Rod

As a much earlier contributor to this apparently endlessly unwinding thread, I suggest to all with this problem to reply to the email you'll now be getting re iPad with an account of your problems with the optical disk. Here is my reply:

Congratulations. I wonder if you could now attend to the simpler task of fixing the optical drive problem for thousands of MacBook Pro owners? Have a look at the 41 pp. just of this thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1918925&tstart=0

My original Matshita optical did not work; I had it replaced on warranty. The successor lasted less than a year. It gives three tries, they ejects any disk inserted. So I rely on my wife's Toshiba.