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

The easy way of fixing this is what i'm going to do in the new year and buy an externel disc reader for a mac seeing that i've been to the Genius Bar about 5 times this year with my mac.

I've had my MacBook for about a year now and i've always had this probablem of some discs working and some not.

It is always better to have two optical drives around, but this is not a solution for the internal drive if defective, mainly if within the  warranty period.

I also have an external drive, incidentally purchased after purchasing an Air 3 years ago, and still having it, rarely used.

My MBP's DVD drive just packed up.  DVD disc just spin's for a while then ejects, same symptoms as everyone else.  Tried a music CD that ejected too, reinserted the CD and iTunes read the disc.  Now, magically DVD's work again, no idea what cured it but I'm thanking Rihanna and her dirty mouth for cleaning my drive up.

MacBook Pro 2.5ghz Matsushita drive, same problems. All disks spin for a while then eject.

Repair: popped in my trusty Discwasher cleaning disc and it was cured within a second.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Hope your problem is solved as easily as mine was.

-Jeff

My disc drive stopped working since the last security update as well...never had any problems prior to this.  Arrrggg...I will break down and call apple I am sure.  Might as well take advantage of the apple care that I paid for.

I had the same problems and i have fixed it!

I have repaired the Disk Permissions of my main HD ( Where my OS is installed) using Disk Utility. Now my blank DVD-R can be read again.

I have the HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GSA-S10N. Wanted to put my word in.

1. Open Disk Utilites

2. Click on your Hard drive partition "Macintosh (or what ever you renamed yours too)"

3. Click on the *Repoir Disk Permissions* button

Worked for me.

I have a MBP 2009 with snow leopards latest update

Just joining this thread. I have an iMac g5 with the MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-825 super drive. It reads disks (DVDs) just fine but when I reinstalled my OSX Leopard and office for mac it just hums then spits them out. Had to take it to the genius bar and they reinstalled the operating system from their instore drives. Great people at the Costa Mesa Store, now returning to install office. What's up with this super drive anyway? Lots of people seem to have problems. Any fixes short of replacing the drive?

In my case it was just dust on the lens cleaned in a second with my Discwasher lens cleaning disc. I imagine most of the people posting here have the same issue but don't realize it. I used to do a lot of work on home computers. Since most people have pets that hang around when they use their computer I'd often find wads of pet hair inside their PCs. One single hair, not to mention a dust bunny, will cause read and write errors on optical disc drives.

I tried the Disc Permissions thing with the Disc Utility to no avail. Then I read somebody else used a cleaning disc and viola! Problem solved.

Any DVD or CD player needs the lens cleaned now and then.

Best of luck to you!

The lens cleaning disc worked for me.   My macbook was ejecting every disc we put in it.  Used the lens cleaning disc and it works again.  Thanks for the advice!

Which cleaning disc did you use. There have been quite a few people who've tried the cleaning discs with good results. Most cleaning discs say not to use them on slot load players, but I've certainly considered it as a last resort when my drive gets worse.

If I were going to try one I'd definitely go for one that people have had success with.

DiscWasher. As an audiophile I've trusted their products for decades. Any good stereo store (if there are any) will carry them. I'll bet Amazon will have them too. I'll check. Yup.

http://www.amazon.com/DISCWASHER-Brush-Laser-Cleaner-Setup/dp/B00009QP1V/ref=sr_ 1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1325914614&sr=8-4

I have bought a DVD cleaning  disk but the drive spits that out as well.

My drive will accept, read and burn CDs but not DVDs, or the original installer disk.

I can't reboot from a disk and therefore I can't check my startup disk.

Any ideas why it's selectively rejecting DVDs?

Thanks

If cleaning does not solve the issue, perhaps your optical drive is undergoing the inexorable process of dying. This may take months, perhaps a year. the process is gradual and may be approx. summarized like this: reads with difficulty DL DVDs, begins to give errors when burning DVDs, initially from time to time, then more and more frequently, then cannot read CDs, and also cannot burn CDs etc. etc.

In the initial stage, the behavior is erratic, as time goes on stabilizes in the sense that become unusable.

Similar behavior may give a dirty unit, that is why cleaning is the first step. If it does not solve the issue, make a plan to replace it or take an external one as long as it may read some CDs and DVDs.

In the long run, optical support will be abandoned in favor of SSDs and other storage means.

Jennifer it might be your drive is dying but it is worth just trying to manually clean it, I had similar issues followed the procedure outlined below and to date have not had the issue recur so it is worth a try, I posted this back in Nov 2011:

I have had the same issue as lots of others with my HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N optical drive for a MacBook Pro being very temperamental only reading the odd DVD not burning anything and not reading any pre-burned discs.  Those it did not take a liking to it simply whirred and then popped them straight out.  I had a look at one solution which suggests taking your drive apart and cleaning the lens (see

http://muzso.hu/2008/08/17/how-to-clean-the-lens-of-a-slot-loading-optical-drive -a-macbook-pros-superdrive)

A bit of a no-no if your a technophobe like me who ends up with more parts than he started with when re-assembling anything.

But then like daidallein found I came across a post suggesting cleaning the lens with the help of a credit card.  I used a loyalty card, wrapped an old glass lens cleaner from my glasses case around it and soaked it in windowlene and inserted it carefully in the left hand side of the lens and pulled it to and fro carefully a few times.

Like magic the drive now reads perfectly, I will post how long it lasts but have no reason to suspect it won't last for the 20 months another poster has suggested.  It is probably better to use alcohol as opposed to windowlene if you have any handy simply because it will evaporate dry better.

Given this does seem a genuine fix to a problem many have been complaining about I am surprised Apple have not put it up as an official solution on their troubleshooting section.  It would save a lot of time for people like me who had to trawl through the forums to get to this point, and who thought it was a genuine drive problem that Apple were not addressing

Hope this helps others.  (the link I used like daidallein is:

(http://eatmyrandom.blogspot.com/2010/06/macbook-pro-superdrive-wont-read-any.htm l)

PS also try cleaning the DVDs you are using.  Even badly scratched ones can be retrieved with a bit to tender loving care!