Power MacG4 M8493 DVD door won't open.

Question

Level 1

12 points

Power MacG4 M8493 DVD door won't open.

I need to install Tiger on another HD,as the original is defective. I cannot open the door with the Eject key or holding down the mouse button. This model does not have an eject button on the front like the older models.
I hear the System Bong after pushing the front button, and the screen shows the icon that there is no system.So I assume the hardware is ok. I can hear the motor spinning in the DVD unit, but I don't know if there is any disk in it. I was just given this computer,as the person got a new iMac.
Is there a "back door" method of opening the door so I can install Tiger with the DVD?

Power Mac G4 M8493 System yet to be installed

Macbook Intel, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Mar 28, 2011 10:09 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 28, 2011 10:29 AM in response to Ross W

Yours is a QuickSilver 2002 G4.

Find something thin and sharp and see if you can slip it in between your G4s' body and the optical drive bay door and flip the door down. The top right corner works best for me. Once you've gotten the door open place something light upon it to keep it open and then see if you can scare up a paper clip.

There should be a small pin-hole just below the tray on the right side of your optical drive. Straighten the paper clip and insert it into the pin-hole. Push the paper clip straight into the hole and it should force the tray to open.

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Answer 2

Mar 28, 2011 2:47 PM in response to Ross W

You have a G4 QS if you hold down F12 that some times works (if its a pc keyboard) also unless there is a disc in the drive the cd drive shouldnt be making any noise, If you have another mac you can use target disk mode.

Also try zapping the Pram holding command option p and R all at the same time as soon as the machine "bongs" and wait till it restarts then try to hold down the eject key again.

Also you can scoop up a new IDE dvdrw for about 40 bucs, because it sounds like it may be broke if its making noise on boot with no cd in.

Also like some one said, open the drive door ( I find you can push on the plastic above it and get your finger nail in, and manually eject the cd drive or push the botton on the faceplate behind the QS drive door.

Good Luck

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Answer 3

Ross W Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 28, 2011 4:48 PM in response to William Bothwell

<There should be a small pin-hole just below the tray on the right side of your optical drive. Straighten the paper clip and insert it into the pin-hole. Push the paper clip straight into the hole and it should force the tray to open.>
William Bothwell.
Thank you very much! Getting the door open was easy. I used a tiny piece of Velcro stuck on the door.Anything sticky enough will work.
Now,too bad the eject button is not accessible like all the other models.

btw. The eject hole is on the left barely accessible.

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Answer 4

Ross W Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 28, 2011 6:04 PM in response to William Bothwell

Ok. Now that it's open,and the tiger Install disk is in,I restart holding the C key.The grey apple logo comes on the screen with the"cogwheel"turning.Then that stops turning,and after a minute,a black rectangular box fills the middle of the screen about 60%.
The second time I booted,there was no cogwheel,but the black box come back after a minute.
I don't think this DVD is any good.With the door open and the DVD in place,the door will close with the keyboard on bootup.But with the door closed on just before the DVD should spinup at bootup,the door should open with the keyboard key,but it won't The drive must not be reading,as I do not see the cogwheel anymore.

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Answer 5

Jon Smith

Level 4

1,390 points

Mar 28, 2011 11:58 PM in response to Ross W

Hello Ross,

Nothing is forever, and that certainly applies to optical drives! 90% of the two or three dozen Quicksilvers I've rebuilt have wanted their optical drives replaced.

Four easy to get at (and easy to drop) Phillips-head screws secure the internal carriage, two hard-to-see tabs secure the bezel, and four more even smaller screws secure the drive. The ribbon cables can be stubborn at times, and I've found that an automotive pick from an NAPA hook and pick set (looks very muck like a dentist's pick except stouter) is great for removing recalcitrant cables when wiggling doesn't seem to do the job.

Other World Computing and Newegg.com have replacement drives, and I just found two NOS original Pioneer DVR-104 drives on eBay for reasonable - newer ones are faster if you intend to do much burning.

HTH.... Jon

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Answer 6

Ross W Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 29, 2011 9:04 AM in response to Jon Smith

Jon says:Nothing is forever, and that certainly applies to optical drives! 90% of the two or three dozen Quicksilvers I've rebuilt have wanted their optical drives replaced.

Well I got lucky at first because I found an Apple System Test disk,that was able to tell me"Error Code 16/64."
So that drive wasn't the problem. I have another G4 that uses the same power supply,so I'll rebuild it into it.
Thanks all for responding to my questions.I learned the differences between this machine and my good old G4 400 I've had 10 years with a Sonnet 1.4GHZ processor.

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Answer 7

Allan Jones

Level 9

78,266 points

Mar 28, 2011 10:48 AM in response to Ross W

Check that all the cables are properly connected to the drive.

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