My Intel iMac 24 is a little over a year old, and suddenly refuses to suck a CD or DVD into the slot. The disc does not get stuck, as a tiny bit is left sticking out (just enough to grab it with your fingernails!), but the drive seems completely dead. Any ideas?
Sounds like a fault with the drive mechanism have you any Applecare on the product. If you have no warranty left and it is just over 1 year old sometimes apple with repair the product. If nobody else posts a fix then maybe a trip to the genius bar will help with the problem
Thanks guys I tried your suggestion, but to no avail, so I've ordered an external optical drive from Amazon for £40, whihc I suspect will be a much cheaper way ahead!
One caveat, folks. Jusst because the drive is "dead" does not mean that the drive is the culprit. I learned the hard way and I'm a tech. I just figured that it was the drive and ordered a Matshita U875 (a better drive than the Sony Optiarc drive anyway).
Another warning--taking apart an aluminum iMac is not bad compared to the first gen of the Intel iMacs, but it is still NOT for the novice to attempt. There's just too many potential problems that can occur--wires to cross, connectors to break, screws to drop behind the logic board, etc.
Back to our story: The drive, after uninstalling the old drive and installing the new Matshita, and reassembling behaved the exact same way ad the OLD DRIVE!!! It is undoubtedly the I/O circuit of course built in to the logic board. Gave the bad news to the client that he's better off getting an external drive than paying extortion rates to Apple for a replacement logic board and the labor to install it. Apple execs--"Hmm...if we make the price of a replacement logic board 80% of the price of a brand new computer, we will sell MORE Macs!!"
Lazarus
