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DVD drive unable to read DVDs

Hi. I have purchased two DVDs recently that cannot be read by my Mac Pro. The discs are not recognised and the DVD tray ejects them after about 20 seconds trying to read.

These discs can be read on a Macbook and a PC. I am wondering where to start in terms of troubleshooting. I am running Snow Leopard with latest updates.

Any information or starter-for-ten gratefully received. Cheers.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Nov 7, 2009 7:54 AM

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Posted on Nov 7, 2009 10:08 AM

I would try a DVD Lens cleaner disk (http://www.amazon.com/Maxell-DVD-LC-DVD-Lens-Cleaner/dp/B00000JPPI) or get some canned air and use it to blow off any dust on the DVD drive lens.
18 replies

Nov 30, 2009 9:02 AM in response to camm07

Interesting enough, I just tried to read an Apple brand DVD-R with a bunch of my burned photos and my Mac Pro will not read it. I get the pop-up that I've inserted a blank DVD, which it is not. I've tried 4 different disks, all created with my old Mac Pro system.

However, my MBP (2.8 Latest Laptop) reads all the disk fine. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-chris

Message was edited by: Chris Cantrell

Dec 4, 2009 9:48 AM in response to Chris Cantrell

Funny I stumbled on this. Last weekend I had a newer DVD movie that could not be read on my Macbook Pro. It is running 10.6.2. I am beginning to wonder if this is an issue with Snow Leopard. I am going to have to do some more testing. An 1 year older mac pro on 10.5.8 could read it. I have to a Mac Pro that has 10.5.8 on it and will have to test next week against another Mac Pro that should be here brand on its way with snowy. I will try to remember to update this and I will be on the phone with apple if I get different results between the 2.

Dec 25, 2009 7:26 PM in response to camm07

I'm having a similar problem. My machine is a Mac Pro dual 2.0 G5 with OSX 10.5.8. There are some drives I can't read & some I can. I can also burn DVD-Rs (haven't tried any other format). I just bought iLife 09 & it doesn't work, although my son's Macbook reads it fine. I also tried loading Inglorious Basterds to watch on my Mac, but it doesn't read either. Other software disks seem to work. Most movies don't.

The drive makes weird "grinding" noises on the disks it doesn't read - sounds like the read pickup is oscillating rapidly. Is this hardware or driver issues?

TIA.

Dec 26, 2009 4:15 PM in response to camm07

Hi All,

I have the same problem with my MacBook Pro running System 10.5.8. Some DVDs aren't read, they are just thrown back. The newest problem I got, an original CD containing a language learning program was recognized as a blank CD only.

Will someone be so nice as to answer how to solve this problem?!

Will be really grateful to get the answer!

Natalija

Jan 4, 2010 11:19 AM in response to camm07

I have the same problem: have two customers with Mac Pros running 10.6.2 and Adobe Reader 9.2 who are not able to read our newest multimedia DVD, although they both have Mac Book Pros with the same software that read the disks just fine. The disks appear to be blank on the MP, but like other posters here, they can read earlier disks on the Mac Pro.

Anyone have ideas?

Jan 9, 2010 5:03 PM in response to camm07

This post "may" be off topic but I have noticed that many users are having problems with their Super Drives since upgrading to Snow Leopard. Neither of my two super drives on my new Mac Pro have ever been able to write to DL DVDs. I performed a "sanity check" a few hours ago and one of the drives (the other is pregnant with a unburned DVD) will not read a commercial DL movie disk or a DL disk that I burned on my previous Mac Pro!

Jan 11, 2010 10:29 AM in response to TopDuck

This might help. I'm still trying to find help for my customers who have DVDs that show as blank in their MacPros, but along the way found this about the grinding noise, seems to indicate a firmware upgrade is needed:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware_hardware/superdrivefirmware update30.html

We're beginning to suspect that the false blank disk messages are also related to firmware, but unfortunately the process of applying the update seems harder than buying a new drive, which is what at least one of my customers did. Anybody have any success with the firmware update approach?

Jan 16, 2010 9:20 PM in response to camm07

Chalk up another spontaneous optical drive failure. My drive fails to read either DVD's or CD's -- including DVD's that it was able to read perfectly just a couple weeks prior. I've had no significant upgrades on the system (still running Leopard Server 10.5.8).

I've tried reading several different DVD's and CD's with no success. When the drive closes, I hear it grinding away for a bit before spitting it back out. Other systems in the house (Macs of various other flavors) have no problem reading the disks.

I've tried blowing some compressed air in the drive slot to dislodge any dust which might have affected it, but this did not provide any relief.

I've been a Mac user since 1986, but lately their durability seems to have take a significant hit. I'd really like to see the company reinvest in enough quality to make their products last a little longer than their (weak) warranty.

Mar 23, 2010 10:56 AM in response to tklacross

This is my first post. Hello everybody.

I have a g5 with 10.4.11 and all of a sudden it doesn't want to read the DVDs. It writes DVDs fine using Toast 6 , my other macs in my office can read the discs ok (a g4 and a Mac pro G5). It looks like like there has been a lot of discussions about DVDs-NOT reading.... over the past 2 or 3 years. But I have YET to find anyone with a SOLID Solution?
I think it might have been an update that I did, that caused it to act-up. Is this Possible?

rockin.noel@yahoo.com is my email.

Thank you in advance...still Lost in Los Angeles...
Rockin Noel

Apr 1, 2010 5:34 PM in response to camm07

I put a software Installation DVD into the drive but my Intel Mac Pro recognized it as a blank, burnable disc (which, of course, it is not). This DVD was correctly recognized in two other Macs, and other Installation DVDs were identified correctly in my Mac Pro. I have repaired the Hard Drive disc permissions, but still no luck getting my Mac Pro to correctly recognize, and allow me to install the software from the DVD.

DVD drive unable to read DVDs

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