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

Not sure I'd recommend toilet paper - danger of leaving some of it in the drive and making the problem worse.  But using the lens cloth that comes with your glasses or something similar with a bit of windowlene or other window cleaner does the job.  Did this a year ago and still haven't yet had recurrence of problem

oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, it worked!!!

amazing! I'm just blown away right now. 3rd try was a charm. mine must have been really dirty because the first couple times I tried this nothing happened. It still seems to be having trouble with minor scratches on a disc, but I'll try the swipe-clean again a few more times and see what happens. thanks a ton to whoever had this idea. much appreciated.

I was going bonkers trying to figure out why mine wouldn't spin up anything - cd, dvd, blank, media...my brother the mac expert suggested the tapping and holding upside down to see if that worked - since it was a solution for some older laptops at his school.

that didn't work either - i was getting ready to get my airbrush and blow inside there when i tried your suggestion - and hello, it WORKED!

I thought it might have been a software issue having just updated to snow leopard too.

or age, since this is a 2008 MBP...

thanks for the low tech, but effective solution!

Brilliant simplicity.  This issue has been plaguing me for years.  I had a bunch of wipes in my bag but had to try three times until I found a wipe that still had some moisture on it.  But it worked!!! Thanks a bunch.

Can't believed it worked. I'm low tech, this was my last chance before giving up. Nice shiny new software - drive just kept chucking it out. Apple Support won't tell you that this is a problem they've noticed and even if they knew this was the way to fix it they wouldn't tell you, that is my bet.

The above solution WORKS!!!!!

Take out your credit card sized but not as thick Driving Licence fro where you last left it, use your own or borrow someone's spectacles cleaning cloth. Place the Driving Licence in the cloth so that you have it covered but simply sandwiched between a layer each so it is not too thick. Gently insert starting at the left side of the disk drive but only 3 centimetres at most deep and gently run it back and forth two to three times.

Insert your disk for pleasurable effect.

I have two Intel Duo Core 2.4Ghz Mac Book Pros and both of them have begun refusing to write DVDs or even read them at times. CDs are fine, but that's no good to me. It's as though they are designed to pack in after they get a certain age or something? But would they read yet not write and why would CD's still write when DVDs don't?

I think I know the solution, perfectly worked.

===============

Go to System Preferences

CD/DVD

See that NO

options are "ask me what to do".

Now, it would load.

I think some security update gone wrong.

This should solve it.

I am lucky to have stumbled upon this thread

I took a membership ID plastic card wrapped a lens cloth over, sprayed some glasses cleaning solution, swipe it inside the drive a couple of times... and voila it worked!

OK FALSE ALARM.

It now reads my Snow Leopard Install DVD, but other CDs and DVDs wont work.

Tried a Windows 7 installation disc and also several audio CDs. All came up with blank media message.

Tried the card swiping cleaning trick on both MacBooks, neither work, intact just get a new error message on one. So simply bought a couple of second hand drives from eBay. Now work perfectly so u can rule out changing your language settings and all that rubbish it just means your DVD reader writers are dying on u.

Hey everyone. I just realised that I haven't unsubscribed from this post… and it's still going.

It's been over 3 years now and still the same few temporary fixes (or unsuccessful) are still coming in strong.

I strongly suspect that the drive is simply a nasty piece of work and i'm thankful I found a firewire DVD drive on our apartment bins which works 100%.  (And a 2TB RAID with the click of death (fixed ) Seriously!).

To solve the problem.

Get an external usb powered drive.

Or a hackbook (I wasn't here… I didn't say that).

Count me among the surprised and happy that the "old license/lens cloth" strategy worked like a charm. I have a First Generation Intel iMac. Some of you much-longer-than-me Mac users know the feeling I'm now experiencing. Lion won't work. Even if it did, no Rosetta. Although I've successfully stumbled upon the MacGyver-ish workaround for sync'ing iCal via iCloud, sync'ing older iMac Contacts without MobileMe is dead in the water. And "the drive's" been not liking media for many months. FINALLY, some good news.

Exactly the same problem ..my1 year old macbook pro will just not play DVD's. I'm thinking of getting an external drive...but which one. I don't want to start opening disk utilites and wandering into that maze ... I may aswell buy a pc. By what people have said It seems as though its a commom fault on the mac. Can someone help me keep the faith?

The (license/lense cloth) trick worked like magic. thank you so much.

Awesome! The license and lens cleaning cloth trick worked for me too. Thanks so much.