G3 iMac 333Mhz not reading CD's burned on my G5 iMac!

Question

G3 iMac 333Mhz not reading CD's burned on my G5 iMac!

I'm trying to refurbish my older G3 iMac & install Panther, for a friend of mine who can't afford a computer. I've suddenly noticed that CD's I've burned on my G5 iMac are unreadable to the older iMac, giving a message that the disc is unrecognizable, and do I want to erase it. It reads many other CD's just fine, original application CD's, the Panther install CD's, including some I burned on a previous eMac I had. I called Apple about this in a panic, and they couldn't imagine what could be wrong, they had never heard of such a thing. All they could say was that the drive must be going bad. But it reads all other CD's just fine--just not the ones I've recently burned on my new G5 iMac. Then they said that maybe there is something wrong with the CD's I'm using, but they can be read just fine by my new iMac and many other computers, including the old eMac that my daughter now has. I even take files to CopyMax for printing on those same CD's and the PC's read them just fine.

Apple suggested that I try purchasing other CD's and try out different brands. Meanwhile, the stack of 50 that I just purchased, I won't be able to use with this old iMac. They are Maxell's by the way, and the label says CD-R. Does anybody out there with a similar 333Mhz G3 iMac with a tray loading drive, have problems reading certain brand burned CD's from another computer? Or have you heard of such a thing? I hate to keep buying different brands to see which ones will be readable by the old iMac. Any advice you have would be appreciated. Thanks!
Kristy

Posted on Sep 14, 2005 5:18 PM

Reply

Answer 1

dreed2

Level 7

25,730 points

Sep 14, 2005 7:42 PM in response to Kristy Effinger

I had that problem with an old iBook 300. It wouldn't read discs that were homemade, but would read commercial discs.

I tried using other brands, burning at slower speeds, etc. Nothing really seemed to help. The CD drive was tired and really needed to be replaced, but it wasn't worth it, financially, to do so when I had other computers in the house that worked fine.

The thing about computers is that they become obsolete after about four years. Technology advances at a rapid pace and the good thing is that the price of the new technology comes down at an equally rapid pace. When you can buy a new Mac Mini for $499 or an eMac for $799, it isn't worth it to replace parts in an old iMac 333, unless you are doing it as a hobby or have spare parts lying about.

Just my 2 cents.

Reply

Answer 2

Ron JACKLE

Level 7

33,451 points

Sep 14, 2005 9:04 PM in response to Kristy Effinger

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 14, 2005 9:22 PM in response to Ron JACKLE

Thank you both, dreed and Ron, for your advice and comments. It's good to know I'm not the only one with this problem. And since I am just getting this iMac 333 ready for my friend to use, I don't have the money to replace the optical drive for her. I will try Charismac Discribe. Is it a shareware program? And is it very expensive? I still have some CD's I've burned on my eMac, that can be read by the iMac 333 just fine--for me it just seems to be CD's burned on my new G5 iMac that won't work--or Maxell's, because this is the first time I've used that brand. I usually buy Memorex.

Ron, it looks like we took the same computing path. The description of your two machines match exactly the configuration of my last two Macs, right down to the amount of memory in each of them & everything. Maybe a G5 iMac is in your future! These second generation ones are really wonderful! I know how you feel about the slot loading iMac, though. This is the first time I've had a slot loader. I have found that I can put my thumb in the center hole, and rest my pointer finger gently on the outside edge, without touching any of the surface, and slip it right into the slot pretty easily, then removing my thumb as the drive pulls it into the slot. It took me a while to figure that out. It helps that the slot is vertical instead of horizontal, although it might work with a horizontal slot, if you put your pointer finger in the hole and rest your thumb on the outside edge. Think about it. So tell me where to find Charismac Discribe. Oh, I can probably just google it. Thanks for the tip!
Kristy

Reply

Answer 4

dadadata

Level 1

55 points

Sep 16, 2005 2:51 PM in response to Kristy Effinger

Dust and "plastic fog" get on the LED lenses of the CD mechanism. Dirt, smoke, cat hair, etc - will accumulate around the extremes of the tracking mechanism and prevent it from going all the way to one side or the other.

Get a can of compressed gas or air and CAREFULLY blow the crud from around your CD drive components if you can get at it. Remember - the gas comes out under quite high pressure and it IS POSSIBLE to damage the LED carrier if you try hard enough.

This works best for tray loading iMacs, but even if it's slot loading you can blow fuzz away from by putting JUST THE TIP of the gas can tube inside the slot lip and moving it parallel to the lips as you release gas.

Check out commerical CD drive cleaning systems. Read the fine print carefully...

Remember - even though your situation is that the drive is under-performing - you don't want to make it worse.

I have several 333 tray loading models and cleaning the LED lenses makes all the difference in the world.

Good luck

/m

ps - don't smoke near your mac... i've seen some that look like that plastic "smoker's lung" thing they showed you in science class

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 16, 2005 3:07 PM in response to dadadata

Thanks for the cleaning tips. I was wondering if I needed to do that. I know my daughter, who had this 333 iMac before giving it back to me, never used a dust cover and it was covered with dust when I got it back from her. She smokes too, but not around the computer or in her apartment. I will pick up a can of compressed air and a CD drive cleaning kit, and see if that helps the situation. If I'm still having trouble, I'll try a different brand of CD's. The tech support people at CharisMac emailed me to assure me that their Discscribe product shouldn't make any difference in the burning of CD's, versus Apple's Disc Utility. They said that usually when people have problems with certain older computers not being able to read burned CD's, it's a matter of the brand being just a little off or something. But I am going to try cleaning it first. Thanks!
Kristy

Reply