DVD Player freezes and quits midway through movie

I leave my computer on all the time and the DVD drive works fine. There could be some hardware problems, you should take it to Apple and let them have a look. My iMac's DVD Drive had a similar problem and they replaced it. (right after my hard drive crashed, they replaced it, and then I turned it on to find my DVD player didn't work after like the second DVD lol).

Broadwayorbust07, I have been having the same problems the last two days. My DVD Player did exactly the same things that yours did. I also keep getting a message that the DVD Player "quit unexpectedly". As a temporary measure, I went to System Preferences - CD/DVD - and set it so that it opened in "Front Row" (not sure exactly what that is) when a DVD was inserted. That works but I don't like the controls. When the black screen was on with the beach ball of death I couldn't do anything. I finally read in the manual that to force quit the Player, you press the Option, Command, and Esc keys at the same time. That worked and then I could eject the DVD.

I'm miffed though b/c the Macbook is only 9 months old and now if I call support I'm going to have to pay. And the closest service dealer is 2.5 hours away. So much for choosing Mac over a PC laptop b/c of reliability....

I hope more people respond to our dilemna....

Ok. I went to our Apple Dealer the other day and asked him about the problem. Apparently, the DVD problems have been an issue with some Macbooks and the solution is to have the DVD player replaced. Since my Macbook is under warranty I will need to take it in. Check with your dealer re this...

Had my DVD player replaced on warranty but still had problems with DVD Player quitting and get message each time, "The DVD player quit unexpectedly". (Really?! No kidding...). Took it back to the Service Provider and they said it was probably a software issue and gave me the link to download/update DVD driver. Still having same problem...so now I have to take it back for the the 3rd time. Anyone else have this problem with the DVD player quitting unexpectedly? Any resolutions? Very disappointed in this Macbook.

I am having similar problem. In the middle of playback, my DVD Player application shuts down. Happened twice already. Called AppleCare and started the troubleshooting process. My MacBook does have crash reports logged for these events. The last crash happened while watching Season 1 of 24. There are 4 episodes on the disc. When the one episode was playing at its end, I selected the right arrow key near the function keys to advance to the next episode. As soon as I hit the key, DVD player shutdown. Every other time, hitting this key worked ok.

Did Apple say what the problem was and how to resolve it? I notice now that it happens on mine most frequently when I'm navigating the arrows (FF, R, advance to frame, etc.). My Macbook has sent crash reports also. I haven't called support b/c I don't have Applecare, but with my one year warranty running out next month and this ongoing issue, looks like I'll have to purchase it....

They had me send the crash report. They didn't get back to me. I am figuring to call back and push the issue when a crash happens again.

Same issued being discussed on this thread?

  http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12104308


Message was edited by: EZ Jim


Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.4)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.4)
LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight

I was speaking to a service tech in one of the larger cities near me and telling him my story. He said with the inconsistency of the the DVD player quitting and with the same message, it may be a software issue but only way to know is to send it in for repair. I purchased Applecare and will be sending it in (it's a 2.5 hour drive to the nearest city). Will let you know what happens...

Yup same problem here, started after I upgraded to 10.6.4 in late June, when my MacBook Pro was less than 2 months old.

Apple replaced the optical drive, same problem.

The fix can be easy such as restarting the DVD player or ejecting the disc and putting it back in, to rebooting the laptop. When it won't read the disc at all I have to do an optical drive reset, which always fixes the problem, for awhile anyway.

I've struggled with trying to duplicate the problem- I've been in to the genius bar four times now and they say they can't do anything more until I can duplicate it. I've done an archive install, they suggest a clean install which I'm reluctant to do at this point.

It seems to be related to-
1) how long the computer has been running since the last reboot- a day of surfing increases chances of error
2) power- if I go on battery power for awhile I'll almost always get a quits unexpectedly. That seems to be the start of a downward slide, where eventually it won't read a disc at all. It's also telling that an optical drive reset, which resets the power to the optical drive, always fixes the problem.

Turns out the power cord was slowly going south, which multiplied the number of dvd errors. Apple gave me a new power cord late August and the dvd errors are less frequent, tho still 2-3x/week.

The quits unexpectedly errors are usually SIGSEGV and SIGBUS.

Wanted to give an update. I sent my laptop in for repairs and they had to replace the DVD drive AND the trackpad which was contributing to the problem.