Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Does 10.5.8 disable eject keys on keyboards for eMac CD trays?

After installing 10.5.8 delta (and after an Erase and Install, installing 10.5.8 Combo), the eject key on by keyboard and the Command-E keys do NOT open the CD Tray. An hour before the delta installation, the keys worked normally.

I tried my eMac's original plastic USB keyboard and an aluminum USB keyboard: same result.

After the delta install and the Erase and Install, the keys functioned normally, but adding the Combo install reverted to the malfunction.

Oddly, my Menu Bar no longer has an Eject icon. It's as if the software no longer recognized the presence of a CD-ROM drive, although System Profiler continues to record the drive's presence.

I have run Repair Permissions, with all errors repaired, but the malfunction persists.

Incidentally, even after the 10.5.8 installations, I can open the drive by holding down the mouse while restarting the eMac, so the optical drive seems to operate well from a mechanical point of view.

Any suggestions?

eMac G4 1GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Aug 6, 2009 10:52 AM

Best reply

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Posted on Aug 6, 2009 1:07 PM

Does the eject key work if you hold it down for a second?

View in context

27 replies

Aug 9, 2009 7:26 AM in response to Community User

Good luck. Since 10.6 is coming down the pike but can't be loaded on my eMac. I don't think I'm missing too much by skipping 10.5.8. But you may be right about Apple fixing the problem eventually.

BIll-A

Level 1

0 points

Aug 9, 2009 11:36 AM in response to Robert Banque

I just downloaded the update to 10.5.8 (I'm on a IMac). The eject key, which had worked just fine on 10.5.7 is no longer working.
Ran Repair Permissions - still did not work. The only way to get an eject was to Restart while pressing the mouse.

The Reason for updating to 10.5.8 was to see if it would allow my MATSHITADVD-R UJ-85J to read a program CD that my wife purchased at the Apple Store.
No luck. Now the drive will not read a simple audio CD. It recognizes the CD as Audio but shows it as not mounted.

Aug 17, 2009 3:56 PM in response to nerowolfe

Hi to all,
I've the same problem on my MacBook (July 2007), after the 10.5.8 upgrade, the Eject button doesn't eject Cd's or Dvd's from the SuperDrive.
The button isn't broken infact, if I press ctrl+eject the Shutdown windows opens.
I've inserted the eject button in the tray, near the clock, and it seems to work.
Any suggestion to solve the problem?

Aug 19, 2009 4:11 PM in response to Francesco.Romano

Nothing to solve?

Aug 22, 2009 3:34 PM in response to Francesco.Romano

Whit 10.5.8 eject button works only if cd is present into the drive!

Aug 26, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Robert Banque

Yes. It appears 10.5.8 disabled the eject function....im wondering along with eMac users those with PowerMac G4, G5, and MacPro's are able to open their disk tray.

As on my unibody MacBook Pro's when hitting the eject key it sends nothing to the Optical Drive...
it used to show the icon on the screen and the optical drive made its ejecting sound...

Similar to 10.4.11 (perhaps .10) where they added the delay for ejecting disks or something along those lines.

Sep 2, 2009 2:46 PM in response to Frank Einstein

Hi all

I have just discovered that the eject button on all my eMacs doesn't seem to work to open the CD ROM drawer after upgrading them all to 10.5.8 just yesterday! Teachers are not so happy today!

To the suggestion that the eject button only works when a CD is loaded, how can you load a CD in the first place when the drawer won't open?

Is the only solution to wait until Apple publishes a fix? Does anyone have a suggestion for a work around until the fix is published?

Thank you for any suggestions.

Greg

Sep 2, 2009 2:51 PM in response to Greg Louttit

I was talking about Mac that don't have drawer!
So you can try put the eject button on the top bar and try if it works! 😉

Király

Level 6

10,017 points

Sep 2, 2009 3:05 PM in response to Greg Louttit

That is terrible news! Have you sent in a bug report and attached a System Profiler report?

Does this work in Terminal? drutil tray open

If so, for a temporary workaround, open Automator. Choose the Run Shell Script action. Enter drutil tray open and then save the workflow as an application. Put the app in the Dock. You can then open the CD tray by clicking on that icon in the Dock.

Sep 2, 2009 8:20 PM in response to Király

Hi Kiraly

It does work as an Automator workflow/application really nicely. Now I need to figure out a way to distribute the open and close applications to my staff, give them permissions to run those apps through Workgroup Manager, and then populate their docks with the icon.

Thanks for the nice tip! Too bad it slipped through Apple's upgrade testing.

Greg

Sep 2, 2009 8:26 PM in response to Francesco.Romano

Francesco

I apologize for sounding like a wiseass, but I was asking the question in all seriousness. I thought you had a trick I could use. I was confused by your reply because the title of the thread is exactly my problem...eMacs with CD trays that won't open with the keyboard eject key.

So tell me how to put the eject button on the top bar (of the Finder window I am guessing) to see if that could work for my teachers.

TIA

Greg

Sep 2, 2009 11:40 PM in response to Greg Louttit

You are right, up in the topic I was talking about my Macbook...

so you can add the button to the top bar in this way:

http://www.hutsby.net/2008/01/apple-mac-osx-eject-menu-bar-item.html

Try 😉
I hope it will be useful for you!

Does 10.5.8 disable eject keys on keyboards for eMac CD trays?