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

(Looks like I'm starting the _42th page of this crazy issue_!)


Hi guys,

I'm having the same issue with my MBPro, early 2008.
It's out of warranty and no AppleCare (of course...)
I (almost) never used my superdrive. Maybe once or twice at beginning to install Leopard, burn a CD or two, read a DVD.
Last week, I wanted to finaly upgrade to Snow Leopard. Impossible.
It's automatically ejecting the DVD after few spins.
I tried a CD from mac magazine, it read it, but only one time.

Now, nothing is staying into the DVD drive.

I tried all, I think with no success. (Reseting PRAM, etc... dust spray... DVD cleaner...)

I am deciding to add my message here. This should be solved. I used this drive less than 10 times, in 2 years and just when I want to upgrade my OS (the only time I ever use the DVD drive), it's not possible, because of a dust issue... a hardware issue.. or a software issue...


Here are my info on my Macbook and my Drive:

*MAC OS X Version 10.5.8*

*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: W880**X91
State: Enabled

*MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:*
Firmware Revision: ZA0E


I'm in Vienna, there is no Apple Store, nor any Genius Bar.
I might stop into a Apple service provider, but anyway, they will make me change the whole drive. Right ?
Do we have any way to bring this back to Apple ? (even I'm not anymore under warranty ?)
I'm not really willing to pay 200€ to change a drive, when I only used it 10 times in 2 years...
Really annoying.

Thierry.

Hi all,
from few days, I have the same problems.
My Macbook (middle 2007; OS X 10.4.11) doesn't read Cd or just only such types.
I tried to reset SMC, PRAM and repaired permissions disc and volume. Nothing changed.
I made also Hardware Test and all is ok.
Here's specs about my superdrive:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Revisione firmware: ZB0E
Interconnessione: ATAPI
Supporto masterizzazione: Sì (rilasciato/supportato da Apple)
Cache: 2048 KB
Legge i DVD: Sì
Masterizzatore CD: -R, -RW
Masterizzatore DVD: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
CD con protezione "buffer underrun" nella masterizzazione: Sì
DVD con protezione "buffer underrun" nella masterizzazione: Sì
Strategie di scrittura: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

Today I'll try to clean the lenses.

Hope to hear meanwhile some solutions here.

Regards
Best whises.

I found this string yesterday when I started looking for help since I'm having the same issue.

My drive will read CD's but not DVDs.

I tried resetting of the SMC which didn't work.
I tried cleaning with a lens cleaner disc and blowing out the disc slot with air since it seemed to help others, but that didn't work either.

I hate to say this but I never had a disc hardware problem with a PC when I was a PC user.

I have no warranty so I now will learn how to work on my MBP. No way I'm paying for service on something that should last the lifetime of my MBP especially since the price was so high.

I guess paying more doesn't always mean you get the best!?

Count me in too. My Problems with this drive started about a year ago, but I've been using an external burner way long before I had issues with the drive. I rarely used it, as the UJ-857 Drive was unable to burn DL-Discs out of the box.
Despite of that I need my customers to be able to read the discs, I burn. I can't afford any problems, when you have ony one shot. Very sad, what Apple sold us as a Professional Product.
Since the early Macbook-Pro Modells were of bad quality, I don't really care about my broken drive. The display seems the only part on my Macbook Pro that hasn't been replaced yet. But the CT-Magazine poll in germany shows clearly, that Apple had a lot of problems with these devices and luckily support has goten better since 2007.
I'm thinking of just removing the drive to save some energy and weight.

Thierry, et al.:
From a twice previous contributor to this string:
Suspecting dust as problem with the Matshita & slot, I've been able to get the DVD player to work on pristine DVDs, but not CD, by vacuuming the slot with the crack attachment of a floor vacuum cleaner.
You'll find that, although the 3 mm slot entry is guarded by brushes, the cleaner parts them. (To help, I also ran a wooden popsickle-like stick ahead of the attachment.) 7 cleanings were followed by 7 successful loads of DVD, before it failed to load either older (dirtier) DVDs or any CD. Cleanings were done with Pro off, inverted & rightside up, Pro on & rightside up. Three add'l trials successful hrs later (incl. overnight) but not vacuuming again. However, even pristine CDs still fail to open. Will continue experiments.

And you can add me to the list, too. I have a mac mini, with a pioneer k06 superdrive. My first drive died after 2 weeks of ownership. Second drive broke two weeks after that. Third drive is now a whole 2 years old, and is starting to kick the bucket. Wow. My old iBook's drive ripped well over 800 cd's, burned over 200 cd's and still works, even though it is now 9 years old. That was a great computer because it worked, but I have had nothing but problems with my intel mac mini. The drive won't accept blank DVD-R/RW's now, and as before I know this is the beginning of the end. Soon, it will reject everything. I have had enough of this problem, and hopefully an external drive will last longer. Maybe apple is trying to remedy this problem by making new computers without drives at all (macbook air, ipaad)? Hmmm... the next generation of computers will just be empty boxes at this rate.

Have you tried simply running a cleaning disc, paan?

FMPOV I reckon the sooner the world gives up on optical drives the better. Great, clumpy, old fashioned optical/mechanical things that tie up vastly more space , both for the media storage and in computer construction, than something as simple as an SD card, which can do the same job way faster and much more reliably in a fraction of the amount of room! The only reason these dinosaurs really survive is because of the inertia generated by their ubiquity!

Cheers

Rod

PS

I must have ten thousand of the danged things, filling up drawers and bookshelves and filing cabinets, wasting resources, just about impossible to find what you want to amongst, etc etc.

Sorry, but when I'm feeling nostalgic I'm more than happy to reach for an old Edison 80RPM or an HMV 78, or even the Sergeant Peppers 33.333LP but I won't spare a moments thought for the passing of the thousand or so music CDs alone that we have (let alone ten times the number of computer DVDs and Cds, Movie DVDs etc) . Hey, the 1000 audio CD's have all already been ripped and are sitting happily in my cigarette packet sized iPod anyway! They have just the same allure as the hundreds of floppy discs that I simply copied to a 100MB HD about ten years ago! Like VHS video before them, they have had their day.

I reckon the days of optical drives as a genuinely useful device are numbered, and the number way well be less than the days of the Presidency of even JFK! Not the sort of technology that I reckon you would be wise to hang onto shares in!

I've said similar things in various places and always been surprised by the lack of antagonistic response, so don't hold back!

What real advantage does a DL DVD have over an 8Gig SD card (and, lets face it, an 8 Gig SD card is hardly cutting edge technology) , beyond the cost benefits associated with the inertia of long standing mass production of an outdated technology? I'd love someone to tell me!

Cheers

Rod

Yep. Tried a cleaning disc. No change. Tried everything short of flashing it. I appreciate the help, and I do agree with you. I usually copy files, movies, etc. onto memory cards, and I rarely have a problem. So much easier and cheaper! It's just when ya need to make a disc, as old fashioned as it is, the frustration of things not working properly can drive ya crazy. Anyways, thanks for responding. Off to the store to find an external burner!

Hi No paan.

Give the cleaner disc at least ten runs. I've been using them regularly monthly in Macs since my iMac G3 2000 slot loader, and I rarely have to use them more than once (in fact every optical drive from that iMac to my current MBP13 is still working fine as a result despite Apple's own "caution" about using such things ), but I've also managed to get other peoples optical drives working by simply repeating the process over and over to the point where you would imagine all hope was gone and they've eventually fired up.

There are other options. As you say, you can simply use an external, which will probably be not only faster but more tolerant of different media., You can also disassemble the drive more easily than many might imagine (as long as they are out of warranty) and clean the lens with a dash of of slightly diluted isopropyl alcohol).

But multiple repeats of the cleaning process are certainly worth trying in many cases.

Cheers

Rod

Dito.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E doesn't work anymore. There definitely is a problem....

Message was edited by: jirjen?!

Totally agree Rod.

I personally have always liked tape but when CDs came out it seemed like a fine format but I really started to hate DVDs almost immediately.

DVDs are certainly no friend to the consumer!

Funny story: An older friend of mine had the main compliant of the iPad that it had no disk drive to play his CDs. I joked about this to a younger friend of mine and he (jokingly?) asked what a CD was!

I'm having the same problem - my G5's Super Drive will read CDs (at least the lens cleaning CD) but not DVDs - it just spits them out again. I've tried repairing my permissions, and am now cleaning it for the third time.

I've read through the first half a dozen or so pages of this thread, and skimmed over the rest. I presume there isn't a definitive answer yet? If cleaning it doesn't work, I guess I'll have to replace the drive. Can anyone recommend a good one, in the UK, that doesn't cost a fortune? How hard are they to replace?

I added a 2nd DVD burner (Toshiba) to my Power Mac G4 (my mirrored drive door came with 2 optical drive slots) and it was VERY easy. I can't remember if I bought it at Newegg or Tiger Direct, but I only paid $25 for it, it burns DL DVDs, is way faster than the original SuperDrive and it even came with LightScribe.

Strangely, if I wanted to pull the Toshiba out and put it in a case to turn it into an external burner, the 5 1/4 case costs twice as much as the optical drive itself! (I'm on this thread because I'm having the same issue as everyone else, but with my new Mini's optical drive, and until I can solve it, I'll be networking my G4 to the Mini so that the Mini can use the G4's burner-a cheaper solution.)

I followed this video which was specific for my G4 http://www.sutree.com/how-to/36217/Install-an-optical-drive-into-a-G4-mirrored-d rive-door---Har but my G4 was the last G4 put out by Apple before they went to the G5 so it may help you.

While my G4's SuperDrive is slowly dying (I have to pry the tray open by force) the Toshiba I bought works great. If you are running 10.4 or earlier, you may also need to install PatchBurn http://www.patchburn.de/ (it's free) for 3rd party drive recognition in iTunes and DiscBurn. If you're running 10.5+ you can skip PatchBurn.

Also if you search for your particular G5 manual within Apple's support area, you should be able to find a take apart guide (at least I was able to for my G4.)

After having suffered from this problem for months, yesterday I very reluctantly decided that I had to buy a new optical drive, and while online happened to stumble across a forum I hadn't seen before. As a result of their posts, I took a lens cleaning cloth, wrapped it around a piece of thick paper stock, and (with the computer off) wiggled it around in the slot in a faintly obscene manner. As they mentioned that the lens is to the far left, I used a square piece rather than the old CD I pulled out.

My optical drive works again. Not sure for how long, but I'm very happy and relieved for the time being.