Gryff

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

The SuperDrive on my MBP has stopped recognizing/reading any blank DVD media (and many recorded DVDs, including movie discs). It spins for some time with a noise and then ejects it out. The same media works fine in my wife's Sony Vaio laptop.

 

There was a thread on this previously, but Apple has closed it:

 

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1295681

 

I know Apple won't own up to the problem, so has anyone found a solution?

 

----------

 

Drive details:

 

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

 

Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision: AP09
Serial Number: K0***********928
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes

 

<Personal Information Edited by Host>

MacBook Pro - Intel Duo Core 2.4GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6), null

Posted on Sep 23, 2015 10:49 AM

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

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  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily May 10, 2009 10:32 PM in response to coyote moon
    Level 1 (30 points)
    May 10, 2009 10:32 PM in response to coyote moon
    Pretty much the reason why I had, first to buy an external optical drive, then to bring my MBP back in before the extended warranty ran out... The cleaning CD didn't work in my case either: it would spin for a few seconds, by short bursts, then get ejected without cleaning anything other than my bank account (more or less 15 bucks for one of those things, can you believe it?!).

    These things are pretty straightforward, since all you have to do is pop them inside the drive and let them do their trick, but you need your drive to cooperate in order to succeed...

    And Apple isn't doing anything about this, are they now...?

    I'll keep you posted when I get my machine back.
  • by andreas lonn,

    andreas lonn andreas lonn Jun 13, 2009 4:30 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jun 13, 2009 4:30 AM in response to Gryff
    I'm having the same problems.
    My computer simply spits out the dvds, I've tried most of the tips I've seen on different forums. Has anyone heard anything from apple?

    What's the deal with the security update? Is there anyway to downgrade?

    Has anyone tried to reinstall the system?

    For me it looks like it's a software problem.

    Regards,
    Andreas

    ------------------------------------------------

    Drive details:

    HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

    Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
    Revision: AP12
    Serial Number: K7R83*224
    Detachable Drive: No
    Protocol: ATAPI
    Unit Number: 0
    Socket Type: Internal
    Low Power Polling: Yes
    Power Off: Yes
  • by coyote moon,

    coyote moon coyote moon May 14, 2009 7:48 AM in response to andreas lonn
    Level 1 (75 points)
    May 14, 2009 7:48 AM in response to andreas lonn
    I honestly do no believe this is related to the security update. My orignal super drive failed within a couple months of purchase. Now the second one has failed but it began exhibiting the problem long before the software update. It began rejecting some disks while accepting others and then worsened until it no lnger reads anything. I think it's hardware. The timing of the software update seems to me to be coincidental. Still Apple says and does nothing!
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily May 14, 2009 10:36 AM in response to coyote moon
    Level 1 (30 points)
    May 14, 2009 10:36 AM in response to coyote moon
    I can't say for sure, of course, but before this update, my SuperDrive used to work just fine. I could read and burn CDs and DVDs, homemade, commercial, you name it.

    Soon after the update, I suddenly had no optical drive anymore... Maybe the update lowered the tolerance to dirt/dust on the lens and rendered the drive inoperable because of that. I don't know, all I know is, I had to buy an external drive to be able to reinstall Mac OSX, in the hope that somehow it would bring my SuperDrive back to life.

    Fat chance...

    Now, my MBP is in repair somewhere (sniff), and I have to make do with my (somewhat faithful) Toshiba laptop. And Windows...
  • by andreas lonn,

    andreas lonn andreas lonn May 15, 2009 1:17 AM in response to andreas lonn
    Level 1 (10 points)
    May 15, 2009 1:17 AM in response to andreas lonn
    i tried the can air and the cd/dvd cleaner. It now works. But I guess it worked for some people aswell. And then it stoped working again.

    I hope it was only the dirt issue!

    I still believe it has something to do with the security update. The timing and the drivers that are involved.

    I think the security update is conflicting with the drivers of the cd/dvd reader.

    Regards,
    Andreas
  • by pimpsugar,

    pimpsugar pimpsugar May 21, 2009 2:58 PM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 21, 2009 2:58 PM in response to Gryff
    yeah, i have had this problem which was just over a month after buying it. apple replaced it but since then me, my wife have both had problems with what I would call build quality & the experiences that I'm reading here & all over the net are clearly telling me that THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!!!
    As a company they clearly think that people are stupid & that by employing some chimps to intervene on forums & try to undermine what is a massive problem, they can stonewall the truth. Is this the Dick Cheney customer service model?
    I am appalled by this company & it's lack of ethics.
    I haven't had my macbook a year & am already looking for a replacement.
    People, vote with your feet & keep spreading the message about your experiences & Apple will learn the hard way.
    There's numerous threads about slow internet & unstable os x that constantly hangs & crashes. Trust yourselves & each other & walk.
    There's no doubt about it, these are beautiful machines & they may have once built with care & quality, but the evidence shows this changed somewhere along the road.
    Why not start a 'declaration to walk' thread on here (oh, yes, but they'll censor it won't they...) or other forums & tell your friends & family...
    We have so much power if we learn how to use it...
    There's some great people on this forum & they deserve better than this disgraceful service & quality.
    I'm gone & I won't forget my experiences & how other people have been treated by Apple.
    It speaks volumes...

    Message was edited by: pimpsugar
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily May 21, 2009 10:43 PM in response to pimpsugar
    Level 1 (30 points)
    May 21, 2009 10:43 PM in response to pimpsugar
    I agree with you on many accounts: Apple doesn't quite live to its reputation here, what with all the hardware problems (not only optical drive, but logic boards, hard drives, network cards, etc...) affecting its recently-built machines.

    I also concur when you say that we customers deserve better than a simple pat on the back and a laconic "Come back later". I'm going to start a thread that will assemble as many hardware complaints as possible, if only to make Apple fully appraised of the situation...

    As of starting a revolution or walking away from Apple, that's another matter, one only each one of us customers can decide on: I'm a translator, and I need a reliable, multilingual machine to work. I can't do that on a Windows machine because keyboard layouts are few and far between, and you have to install othe languages from the Windows DVD, and it usually leads to an unstable machine. Not so on the Mac. Many translators like to work on the Macintosh because of that, and I'm not leaving my MBP, SuperDrive working or not.

    On the other hand, since I paid almost 2000 euros for this machine, I feel entitled to a little bit more than your average buyer of a 300-euro netbook...

    I'll start this thread sometime today, unless someone beats me to it... The more, the merrier, right?
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily May 23, 2009 4:27 AM in response to OneCatFamily
    Level 1 (30 points)
    May 23, 2009 4:27 AM in response to OneCatFamily
    Got my MBP back this morning from the aftersales services at FNAC, the French retailer I bought it from.

    SuperDrive now works (for how long?), at least I think, because I only popped a DVD with a Linux distro on it in the slot, and sure enough, it mounted the disk on the Desktop.

    So far, so good.

    I still have a problem with the right-hand fan, though. Still appears not to be working, though I went out of my way to let it be known to the Apple techs who'd take care of my machine that it wasn't working. I thought that since they were going to open my Mac up, they would also check or change said fan.

    No dice...

    <Edited by Host>
  • by stereointeractive,

    stereointeractive stereointeractive May 27, 2009 10:16 AM in response to stereointeractive
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 27, 2009 10:16 AM in response to stereointeractive
    Finally due to another issue (NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor failed, see: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377) I was forced to take my MBP to an Apple Store for repair. They sent it in for service on Friday afternoon, and even though Monday was a holiday, my laptop was delivered to my by 9AM Wednesday, data intact. 3 short business days from drop-off to delivery.

    They replaced my logic board (for the NVIDIA issue) and also replaced the SuperDrive (for the disc reading issue). Now my drive works good as new; discs are no longer ejected.

    I'm not sure if the service center would replace the drive if all it needed was a little cleaning, but it's impossible to say for sure. At least in my case, the solution was to get a replacement.
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily May 27, 2009 10:23 AM in response to stereointeractive
    Level 1 (30 points)
    May 27, 2009 10:23 AM in response to stereointeractive
    Almost the same for me (they'd already replaced the logic board last summer...): it took only two weeks for them to send my MBP back with a new (I suppose) SuperDrive that can now read and burn. I'd rather it does that than "crash and burn"...

    Maybe they refurbish the moderately damaged optical drives and put them back in the circuit, I don't know. I think I noticed some changes in the technical specs, but I'm not sure.

    (Scratch that, I just checked and I now have a Matshita UJ-857G unit in lieu of a UJ-857; does the G stand for "Glitch-free"...?)
  • by stereointeractive,

    stereointeractive stereointeractive May 27, 2009 10:41 AM in response to OneCatFamily
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 27, 2009 10:41 AM in response to OneCatFamily
    Ah, good point.

    I just checked System Profiler and I can see they replaced my old drive with a new one with the exact same specs:

    Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
    Revision: AP09

    Aside from the serial number, the rest of the specs are identical.
  • by sdh1982,

    sdh1982 sdh1982 Jun 3, 2009 9:35 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 3, 2009 9:35 AM in response to Gryff
    My machine is having the same issue, it is ridiculous! I have just rang apple for support and got taken through the token -
    "switch off, remove battery, hold power button for 10 seconds, replace batter try it now, then try repairing disc permissions"
    +Thats the apple equivalent of the famous way to resolve a PC problem, 'Format C drive and reinstall windows!'+
    Anyway, outcome is its Physically damaged so i need to have the machine repaired, i was advised to take it into my nearest apple store and they can tell me the likely cost! Just out of warrenty you see! I explained to the adviser at apple the following:

    Application DVD's - Work fine
    Games DVD's - Work fine
    DVD Movies - Work fine
    Audio CD's - Work fine
    Burnt CD ROMS - Work fine
    Blanks CD ROMS - Work fine
    Burnt DVD-R - FAULT - drive spins up for 30seconds then ejects
    Blank DVD-R - FAULT - drive spins up for 30seconds then ejects
    Burnt DVD+RW - existing content cant be viewed, but DVD can be used to burn, writing over existing content i assume.
    Blank DVD+R - Not tested

    This issue has only arrisen recently, and with most forms of media working ok, i dont understand how this can be a hardware damage. Annoyed really, dont know what to do about it, i refuse to pay for a repair when it is clear from the forums accross the whole internet that there are thousand suffering from this issue! The guy on the phone said he had never heard of such a problem before. . . . Whats going on?
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily Jun 3, 2009 11:15 AM in response to sdh1982
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Jun 3, 2009 11:15 AM in response to sdh1982
    Your problem could very well stem from a recent update setting narrower tolerances on the optical drive: with the drive becoming less tolerant to dust or dirt on the laser lens, you can get error messages or sheer malfunction. I have expressed my doubts as to how recent Security Updates may have impacted optical drives. I've been more or less laughed at by some people here who claim this has nothing to do with that. I'm still not convinced. Call me stubborn...
  • by PawelW,

    PawelW PawelW Jun 12, 2009 6:16 AM in response to Gryff
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 12, 2009 6:16 AM in response to Gryff
    Mine reads everything except several commercial CDs, which are in perfect condition and have worked well before. I haven't used them for at least a month so I can't be sure when the problems began, but I am nearly certain that this is not a hardware issue in my case.
  • by OneCatFamily,

    OneCatFamily OneCatFamily Jun 12, 2009 9:11 AM in response to PawelW
    Level 1 (30 points)
    Jun 12, 2009 9:11 AM in response to PawelW
    What can I say that won't be "<Edited by Host>"...?

    I'll stick to my guns here: somehow, recent updates to OSX may have ruined some optical drives, without Apple acknowledging it in any way, nor investigating it, it seems.

    I don't know what troubles me most...
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