CD Drive Spits Out Some CD's, not others

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CD Drive Spits Out Some CD's, not others

Seemingly with no rhyme or reason, my CD drive on my MBP spits out some CD's (it's about 50/50). The same is true of DVD's. When they work, they work fine. However, when I insert some, I push it in, it whirrs for a few moments, thinks about it, then spits it out. The disks are all clean, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. The computer is out of warranty, so taking it in won't do me any good. Anyone have any ideas what's going on here?

For those curious, it's a Matshita DVD-R UJ-857D

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 21, 2010 8:11 PM

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Answer 1

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jan 21, 2010 11:25 PM in response to snickers86

Welcome to Apple Discussions 🙂

You'd be surprised how many people have found that running a regular DVD Lens Cleaner disc through the drive can have a huge impact on the reliability of read/writes ... the lens seems very sensitive to even the smallest spec of dirt or dust.

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Answer 2

snickers86 Author

Level 1

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Jan 22, 2010 3:53 PM in response to snickers86

I bought a lens cleaner today, but the computer spits it out. I've put it in 7-8 times now, trying to get it to clean the lens, but it thinks the same way it does with many other CD's, then spits it out. Other ideas? Ways to force the CD to accept?

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Answer 3

CMCSK

Level 6

11,452 points

Jan 22, 2010 6:25 PM in response to snickers86

If your computer is spitting out the cleaning disc, it appears your drive is damaged. If you do not want to take your Macbook Pro to an Apple store for a diagnosis you can attempt to diagnosis or repair yourself by visiting Do-It-Yourself Laptop Repair and FixYa websites.

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Answer 4

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Jan 22, 2010 6:27 PM in response to snickers86

As CMCSK wrote, if it's ejecting the cleaning disc there's a problem with the drive itself 😟

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Answer 5

Rod Hagen

Level 7

32,000 points

Jan 22, 2010 7:27 PM in response to snickers86

What sort of cleaning disc is it, snickers86?

In some cases I've found the ones design for "standalone" DVD players (played on the Mac using the "DVD Player software) actually work more readily than ones designed specifically for computers.

Cheers

Rod

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Answer 6

snickers86 Author

Level 1

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Jan 23, 2010 9:40 AM in response to snickers86

It's by Philips, just called a "Laser lens cleaner". I suppose it's not a DVD, but rather a CD. Does that make much difference? Anyway, it never really got its chance to clean the drive - it spit it out too soon.

I question if the drive can really be damaged. I would assume if it was damaged, it wouldn't accept any CD's. It still accepts about half of them.

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Answer 7

Jan 23, 2010 9:51 AM in response to snickers86

I've used both CD & DVD drive cleaners w/o any problems. My CD drive cleaner is one that I've had for eons for my external CD player which is a cheapie from Radio Shack. Works very well on both my iMac & MBP.
My DVD drive cleaner is one I purchased from Best Buy called Disc Dr. Also works very well on both computers.

A damaged drive can still reject or accept CD/DVDs. If the MBP is not accepting a cleaning drive CD or DVD, it's a good possibility that there is something wrong w/the drive.

*Last resort:* Repair permissions and restart your computer. Sometimes this cures drive problems.

!http://i45.tinypic.com/jl0z95.jpg!

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Answer 8

Jan 26, 2010 9:10 AM in response to snickers86

Hate to join the group, but I have a 2006 MBP doing the exact same thing; ejects some cds and accepts others. However, strangely, every one that I have tried that is a copy of a retail disk is OK, but the original will not load, just ejects.

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Answer 9

imagus

Level 1

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Jan 31, 2010 5:51 AM in response to snickers86

Hi,
I have your same problems:my Macbook (middle 2007; OS X 10.4.11) reads some Cds and no others. I tried to reset SMC, PRAM and repaired permissions disc and volume. I made also Hardware Test and all is ok. Nothing changed.

Here's specs about my superdrive:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:

Revisione firmware: ZB0E
Interconnessione: ATAPI
Supporto masterizzazione: Sì (rilasciato/supportato da Apple)
Cache: 2048 KB
Legge i DVD: Sì
Masterizzatore CD: -R, -RW
Masterizzatore DVD: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
CD con protezione "buffer underrun" nella masterizzazione: Sì
DVD con protezione "buffer underrun" nella masterizzazione: Sì
Strategie di scrittura: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: No

Today I'll try to clean the lenses.

I read here that many people suggest to clean the lenses; but this is not always the solution for all. Other people say that the buy a new superdrive and the problem is still there. Perharps is a firmware problem and Apple'll give a solution in the future.
I suggest you to clean the lenses and wait before you'll buy a new superdrive.

Regards

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