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

Hello all

Same problem here. DVD makes a few odd noises, spins and then spits out the DVD/CD-R.

My MBP is one month old... Come on Apple, do something about this.

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N:

Firmware Revision: SB07
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
Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh

Soon after upgrading to Snow Leopard I began having troubles reading and writing discs as well. I have been trying to track down the source of the problem whether it is software or hardware (firmware) related. I have tried an external burner with the same results. However, booting another system (Bootcamp - Windows XP) the drives work fine.

My conclusion is that something has been installed in a security update. In my case after my Snow Leopard upgrade, but I think that Apple has changed something in the way the OS calibrates the disk drive (EFI), and I don't think that it is limited to Snow Leopard since other users on 10.5 and earlier have problems too.

I have a late 2008 MBP, but I have found that this problem is happening for all Macs, not just laptops and not just Superdrives.

I'm shocked that Apple will not even look into the problem. My suspicion is that it is an Apple mistake and would possibly result in recalls or repairs that would be extremely costly. Since every few years, many of us upgrade to a new system, if Apple ignores this long enough, it will go away. Problems started being reported 2 years ago. In this case, even with the expensive extended warranty, swapping the drive out for a new one does nothing.

Apple is shipping so many units per month that even 100 000 users with this problem doesn't really worry them. They know we won't switch products (to Dell, Samsung, IBM, whatever). We won't run Windows. And for the most part, we actually like their products.

So what I'm saying is, we're screwed.

My little contribution.
My superdrive started acting strange about a week after upgrading to 10.6.4, particularly not accepting anymore blank dvd-R media; alright with +R. Tried first software solutions, i.e. clearing pram, repairing permissions, reinstalling previous versions up to 10.5.5, but no luck.

Last try: isopropyl alcohol and cotton stick.
Opened, uncapped superdrive, burst of alcohol, stick. Still with drive opened, inserted -R media.

It worked at first try. Burned media. Still working.

PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS09:
Firmware Revision: Q909
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

I need to update from a previous post.
I have Vista installed on a partition.
When I try to burn from Vista, even with an external burner, I always get an error and waiting for quite some time.

I suspect that all of this must be to do with the actual kernel itself. There must be a bug or something in the 'BIOS', that controls devices on a fundamental level before the OS loads. This would also explain why some people have problems, even though they have not upgraded to Snow Leopard.

It's unfair that Apple is not transparent about what is going on in their "Security Updates". I feel that an 'EFI' update is what the problem is.

Does anyone know how to downgrade the 'EFI'? I don't know how to force a firmware downgrade.

My computer stopped accepting factory DVDs a while ago. It's about 1.5 yrs old, and has had this problem for probably about a year. If I continued to put the disc in, sometimes eventually it worked, but now, it won't read any disc. I beeps a few times then spits out the disc. So annoying. I've read a lot of this thread, and there doesn't seem to be any clear answer. My computer randomly turns off also, so I guess it might be time for a new machine.



Mac Mini
OS 10.5.8
2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06:

Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06
Revision: Q614
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: No

I have had the same problem here as well as having two superdrives replaced so far under Applecare. The drives do seem to be far less reliable than the PC equivalents I have had. Apple get some quality control on your optical drives!

Drive details:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-867:

Firmware Revision: HA13
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, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

I still believe that most of the issues with this drive is it needs to be cleaned, I too had the same problem, I used a CD Cleaner the kind you can use for computers or any CD player, the last person I helped they said it kept spitting it out on him but after 6 tries he finally got it to stay in and run and it worked.

I think it has something to do with the placement of the drive where it collects dirt/dust but mainly only effects the DVD part of the drive.

I am curious as to why Apple hasn't figured this out and is replacing drives with out finding out what caused the problem since it does seem to be common..

It's a little bit hard to use a cd/dvd drive cleaner when it spits out the disk before it actually gets going.

I've been having this problem since about 3 months after I got my mac (christmas 2007), and at first all I had to do was eject and push it back in a few times...but now it's stopped working altogether.

I'm sick of these problems! (Keyboard and trackpad had to be replaced a few months ago, along with the logic board).

I rarely use the disc drive on my MBP. Today I wanted to import music from a new CD I bought. Same issues that others have reported here. Wont load cd's or dvd's. Not happy about having to send the laptop to Apple 2nd time in 3 months (previously screen was replaced under warranty). Thought I'd paid for quality - guess not!

I had the same problem with my Matshita DVD-R UJ-868 in a 13”MBP. The player made a lot of strange clicks and then ejected the DVD. I tried every trick I found on the internet, without success. The MBP was just 2 months beyond guarantee, so it could cost a lot of money.
I decided to open de MBR and the DVD drive. You can find here http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Installing-MacBook-Pro-13-Inch-Unibody-Optica l-Drive-Replacement/1368/1 how to remove the drive and here http://muzso.hu/2008/08/17/how-to-clean-the-lens-of-a-slot-loading-optical-drive -a-macbook-pros-superdrive how to open the drive.
In my case the sticker on the “turntable” (the part that rotates the DVD), that is protecting the bearings from dust, got loose due the high temperature in the MBP. It stuck to the “turntable”, preventing it from rotation. Now I also understood why I had a little trouble before to get a DVD into the player.
When you have the right screwdriver it is a very easy job to look inside the drive. You do not have to remove the speaker/subwoofer cable (step 4) or the camera cable (step 5), to remove the player.
Good luck

Hey everyone,

just thought I'd pop in with my experience. First time the drive on my late 2007 MBP stopped working about 4 months in. I didn't really care. I needed the machine and I almost never used it anyway (It was capable of reading both CDs and DVDs from what I remember). Anyway, I had to take it for repair some time later because of the graphics overheating. Sadly, I live in a country where Apple has no stores so I had to take it to their local "authorized" service centre. I don't know who the **** authorized those chimps that managed do destroy my display when changing the graphics. Anyway, two repairs later, I had new drive. I think it was different model than the first: GSA-S10N. Anyway, I had a few other issues about two weeks after my warranty ended (It didn't really end, only those idiots in that service centre managed to rewrite the papers so it looked like the machine really spent only few days on repair, but what can I do). It was just burnt out FireWire. Mere 800+ euro to repair. I bypassed it software wise and mac works without it. (I should clarify that Czech warranty is two years long by law, which of course reflects heavily into mac prices.)

Anyway, I didn't really use the drive once again and noticed only few days ago it now isn't reading pretty much anything.

I don't care about it really, but Apple ****** me of big time with all this. Few years ago their machines were like a dream come true after so many years with PC. No problems whatsoever (at least not that I heard of). But since they moved their manufacturing to Asia and a lot more people buy their stuff, they think they can get away with a lot more. Suddenly their machines are worst kind of mainstream as opposed to hi-tech, no problem, holy grails of home computing they used to be.

By the way, the drive works really. Sometimes. When I have used canned air to clean it, it actually worked for about 5 dvd's burnt. (Well, 4 of them were unusable, but it said it burnt them :)). I was told many times that this is simply how slot in drives are and that air spray just wont help as it only moves the dust within the drive, which then falls down back where it was. That makes sense, except this is third slot in drive I have ever used (not counting the first Apple one) and none of them ever failed on me. And I used to have lots of normal drives. In one of those, one faulty cd actually exploded due to high rpm. Guess what, I gave it some time, smashed it a few times...and it worked for another three years.

Bottom line, if you don't feel like sending it in for whatever reason, try canned air, then cleaning cd, it it doesn't load, try the air again until it does. It may give you another maybe month before the dust settles on the lens once again. Most likely, it will not, but hey, one has to hope.

See you,
Jan Blazicek

And as previous poster stated, I am all for taking it apart. It is a beautiful machine and the insides look just as good. Everyone should see what he carries around. There is not much that can go wrong it you're not absolutely lost cause technical wise. And I cannot emphasize enough on using the right screwdrivers, because the screws on mbp really may have tendency to self destruct on sight of wrong tool. But other than that, I believe any one of you could be an "authorized" service guy in no time . Hopefully not breaking the display in the process. (Which is really kind of hard to do. I tried to replicate it.)

literally did not go to sleep researching why my macbook pro wouldn't burn dvd's many of you seem to be using dvd-r not so many using dvd+r (im using dvd+r). i hear some say it doesn't work some say it does, well whatever im just waiting for some store to open so i can get a disc cleaner because i really think thats the problem, those who it didn't work for maybe try popping it for 10 times of cleaning and see what happens, idk tho im just putting in my two cents i, but i saw one person saying pounding the computer worked for them, well since i was wanting to do that already out of frustration....IT WORKED!!! very happy but i have many a couple other dvds to write so i think im gonna go but a cleaner still haha but im happy so for everyone else but this is what i think will work. pounding it, or getting a cleaning disc. i really dont think its a problem with the computer only that it may be dirty. im not to good with computers in the first place but it kinda reminds me of super nintendo where you blow on the game and press power i think its the same thing here. but idk could be wrong! haha im ust glad it finnaly working!!

I've had this problem for MONTHS!! However it only applies to movies I try to play on dvd. It's random though, sometimes it will play them, others it just spins for ages and then ejects it. For example, I bought a series on dvd the other day, 4 dvd's in total. The first 2 worked perfectly, the 3rd I rebooted, and it still wouldn't mount. I then waited a while and tried again with success. Now the 4th dvd will not work at all! It's like it's completely selective. But these are new dvd's, fresh out of the case >_> Some work, others don't.

It's REALLY starting to **** me off D:

Also, sometimes if a dvd does mount and I manage to play it using DVD Player (which came installed on mbp) it will work like a breeze, until I pause or stop it. Then when I go to play it again it freezes up and can't read the dvd anymore and spits it out once again D:

hi there
Well, I think after reading all these posts from desperate people trying to get their superdrive working properly and all seems that doesn't work and having to replace it spending 100s of bucks, I'm gonna tell you how to to fix it really easy and CLEAN, lol...I had to share this with you, folks!

What you need is a business card or a credit card + iPhone cleaning cloth (other similar cleaning cloth that's thin and doesn't leave marks for example for cleaning glasses). Wrap the cloth around the credit card, then while holding the ends of the the cloth insert few centimeters from the front of the credit card covered with the cloth in the optical drive, push and pull a bit and that's about it. The drive will work perfectly and like new
You don't need to insert it so much since the lens is not so deep inside. It's just few cm in.

well, that's about it...
Stay well and enjoy it now!
J