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

Ian Lock wrote:
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!

Whilst I feel that the quality of components in my Macbook pro has been a little disappointing, I am happy to report that Apple have recently replaced my faulty optical drive under the extended Applecare Warranty. This is the 4th warranty claim they have met with this computer. Each time involves significant inconvenience & expense as the nearest Apple repairer is 160kms away.

Thank you for this idea!

I taped an iPhone cleaning cloth (but any lens cloth will do) to a thin piece of plastic (more specifically, an unused iPhone screen protector) and inserted into my drive and moved it gently around for a few seconds.

Now my drive reads DVDs! I haven't tried burning discs yet but I'm just glad to get this simple functionality back. I also tried blowing compressed air into the drive before using lens cloth and it did not work.

Update: My laptop still does not read burned discs and I'm guessing it will probably not burn them. However, being able to read some DVDs is none at all so it's not a complete waste of time.

just an advice, never try to blow compressed air into your drive before you clean the lens with the cloth...try again my procedure 2 or 3 times, it will end reading it with no problem....if it doesnt, probably you got some other issue on your superdrive other then dust...good luck!

same problem here. started small, getting worse.

Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz

SuperDrive:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:
Firmware Revision: AP09

my friend's other MacBook Pro (earlier revision of the model i'm using now) has the same problem. her's started going before mine, but not that far ahead...

just an update... after continuing reading this thread, i got desperate and blew compressed air into my drive a little bit. retried the most recent troublesome disc (DVD) and it mounted and read fine. does this mean that there is indeed an airflow problem with these drives causing dirt and whatever to get sucked in through the felt? i didn't think anything could get blown in there just via the power of air...

I found something that might be helpful. I am having the same problem many of you are having: I insert a DVD into my Mac Mini, it makes a very cranky noise for a 30-40 seconds then spits out the disc. I couldn't do it every time but it happens regularly. I took the lid off the Mini, off the DVD drive and blew air through the drive but no difference.

The noise, though, sounded vaguely familiar to me so I started playing with the position by which I insert the disc. I found that if it gets inserted on the left side of the opening then it doesn't work. If I insert the disc on the right side than it works every time. I have tried 9 or 10 discs without problem now, in a row. My guess is it is a seating problem -- that the disc isn't seated correctly within the drive to read it and the whomping noise is actually the disc smacking around inside the drive.

To get it in on the right, I gently slide it in a little and then kind of spin the disc into the drive, moving my hand from the left side of the disc to the non-inserted side. After a spin or two like this the drive catches it and pulls it in manually but this motion keeps it on the right side of the opening.

Hope that helps others.

Same problems here for a long time, and also getting worse in time, but...........yesterday I bought a DVD cleaning disc. And it works for me. Drive does read CD's again. I had no problems with DVD's. Hoping it will work for a long time now.

My Matshita dvd-r uj-857 called by Apple "Superdrive" doesn't work, only can read some CDs a DVD, mainly originals discs, ripped disc are ejected.
When try to burn a disc it's damaged by "Superdrive", ejecting it like a bad taste bubble gum, and the worst my discs only can be used like a frisbee.
Yes, I Clean up the lens, problem keep on
Yes, I try other DVDs/CDs marks, discs was new, until insert it
Yes, My Macbook Pro detectes the unit, System Profile, and says that allows Record DVD/CDs.
Yes, I try other software to burn disc, both on Toast or iTunes or Disk Utility or Finder.
Only solved buying an external DVD drive, money reserved to buy an iPod, maybe the next year. I haven't unlimited money for electronics.

Same issues with my wife's MBP from late 2007. We used it as a DVD drive for the first time since the original DVD install. We were able to watch a couple cartoons for my baby girl who was hospitalized and then it started spitting DVDs out the following day. Needless to say my girl and I were deeply disappointed!

Not sure if this is a coicidence but we did make the following changes to the energy saver options in the system preferences the night before the problem started: we changed the "suspend" settings from 3 hours to never. Since we didn't switch the computer off that evening and left the DVD inside maybe that was to much to ask of the MatSH!Ta drive...

I have virtually every type of Mac computers on the market (only missing the Air) and am amazed by the number of posts on this topic and to see that there has never been a recall for these drives.

MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D :

Modèle : MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D
Révision : KBV9

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D :

Révision du programme interne : KBV9
Interconnexion : ATAPI
Gestion de la gravure : Oui (lecteur livré par Apple)
Cache : 2048 Ko
Lecture de DVD : Oui
CD gravables : -R, -RW
DVD gravables : -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Stratégies d’écriture : CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Données : Insérez un support et actualisez l’affichage pour connaître les vitesses de gravure disponibles.

Mine has done this too! I have the early 2008 model and it started doing this back in November of 2009! It has been sent out to be repaired and they didn't do a thing!!! I'm a design student and i cant have my computer failing on me

okay guys...
i've also got this issue.. i can't recall when it started, probably a few months ago, but i didn't make a big deal out of, i wasn't doing anything of great importens, so i thought it just needed a rebbot.. but whenever i insert any kind of disk it makes a funny silent noise for 30-40 seconds and then it spits out the disk, no matter if it's a blank DVD/CD a DVD/CD - ANYTHING.. my MBP is 1.5 years old..
In Denmark we have a 2 year complaints law, and im not sure if you got it in the states? but it means, that i can open a "case" within those 2 years, and apple would have to prove, that it wasn't their mistake in their software etc. but self caused..
now my question is; is their any reason why they shouldn't fix this problem for me, free of charge?

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.


Try this and see if it works, If it doesnt work right away, do the same procedure and it will come....( this procedure only works if your drive is dusty and you didn't messed up with something else )
Attention: Never blow compressed air into your drive to clean it

My problem is not that it won't read any dvd. My MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-867 stopped burning DL DVD's. I wasted 10 the last few days trying all kinds of stuff. It gets expensive and frustrating. I get this failure notice: *Unable to burn "disc." The disc drive didn't respond correctly and can't recover or retry.* I never had this error before but after google I see many others have. I have had other problems. At least the error gives a code.

So I decided to try Toast. I used Toast Titanium10. Everything worked perfect so far. So I have to agree with those that feel a recent Apple update is causing the problem. I'm not an Apple Certified Tech but I have been repairing Macs for a while and have taken apart an cleaned many optical drives. I have fixed many. So I blew it out with air and then cleaned the lens as well. Same failure again.

I have been burning DVD DL's for a couple of years with no problems until now. I tried a different Macbook and I got the same failure notice. It has all the upgrades. So I think apple has an little problem again. BTW this just started recently for me. I noticed it last week for the first time. I have had other problems in the past. One time I was able to force quit the finder and get the drive to start working again. But that was a communication failure. That was with some older combo drives.

Tried the PRAM reset as well. Personally I've never had that help anything but it makes you feel like your doing something! There are lots of issues with optical drives and media as well. I have had problems with media and I found Sony worked very well. Now I'm using Memorex. I got the same failure on four different types of DL DVD media. I also tried permission repair.

So for me Toast was the answer! So far I've burned 4 DL DVD's successfully today. I'm burning cheap Memorex at 2X. Verbatim are suppose to be the best from what I've read. I figure if Toast can burn it then there is a problem with 10.6.4 and disc utility.

Macs aren't aways easier than PCs! When it comes to disc burning they are harder I think.

Same here. Drive can read but refuses to burn and won't recognize blank discs. Also sounds like ****. Will try Toast to see if it works.

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:
Firmware Revision: ZA0E
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: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh