Optical drive rejects DVDs

I realize that there are postings about this problem elsewhere in these discussions, but the suggested solutions seem to refer to Powerbooks and iBooks, so I want to ask about it again in connection with my eMac. My optical drive plays commercial DVDs with absolutely no difficulties, but when I insert a DVD made from a blank disk, the disk is often ejected after a few seconds. One particular DVD, which was not made by a private individual, but was made for sale by an art gallery, is always rejected and I cannot play it.

I have carefully cleaned the problem disk and I have cleaned the lens of the optical drive. The details of the drive are: Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D; this is, I realize, an old model, but it was installed by an Apple-authorized repairer only a year or two ago to replace the original one which had become faulty,and it has not had all that much use.

I should be grateful for suggestions.

Posted on May 20, 2011 12:20 PM

33 replies

May 25, 2011 1:02 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

I did try without the .exe file, Alberto. I have been pursuing the matter through various forums, etc., and it now appears that in addition to R7100107.122, which is, I believe, the 'normal' file, I also need the 'kernel' file. But that is not included in the Pioneer download and I have searched the Net in vain for a clue as to where I could find it. Have you (or has anyone) any idea where I might find it?

As always, I am immensely grateful to you, and apologetic for, all the trouble you are taking to try to solve my problem.

May 25, 2011 1:39 PM in response to Michael Graubart

OK. I got it

But first I need you to post here the result of this command in Terminal

ls -la

type a space after -la and drag over Terminal the folder you used to unzip DVRFlash and the firmware. Mine read like this

iMac:~ alberto$ ls -la /Users/alberto/Desktop/DVRFlash

total 2344

drwxr-xr-x 6 alberto staff 204 25 Mag 22:26 .

drwx------+ 16 alberto staff 544 25 Mag 22:25 ..

-rw-r--r--@ 1 alberto staff 6148 25 Mag 22:23 .DS_Store

-rwxr-xr-x 1 alberto staff 1048576 8 Set 2005 R7100107.122

-rw-rw-rw- 1 alberto staff 5308 4 Set 2008 Readme.txt

-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 alberto staff 134724 19 Dic 2009 dvrflash

If the last line, the one with drvflash, is the same at the beginning, -rw-rw-rw-, you must change the permission to -rwx------

But please post here the result first 😉

May 25, 2011 2:51 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

I first removed the .exe file, which, as you explained, is not applicable to my Mac. Then I typed in the command ls -la followed by a space and dragged the folder that contains DVRFlash and the firmware file into the Terminal window.

The result was:

Last login: Wed May 25 22:43:55 on ttyp1

Welcome to Darwin!

You have new mail.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$ ls -la /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/

Then I pressed 'Return', and the result was:

Last login: Wed May 25 22:43:55 on ttyp1

Welcome to Darwin!

You have new mail.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$ ls -la /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/

total 2328

drwxr-xr-x 5 michaelg michaelg 170 May 25 22:44 .

drwx------ 48 michaelg michaelg 1632 May 25 22:44 ..

-rw-r--r-- 1 michaelg michaelg 6148 May 25 22:44 .DS_Store

-rwxr-xr-x 1 michaelg michaelg 1048576 Sep 8 2005 R7100107.122

-rw-rw-rw- 1 michaelg michaelg 134724 Dec 19 2009 dvrflash

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$

I hope this helps.

May 25, 2011 3:01 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Yes I was right. The drvflash even though it is an executable, it hasn't the correct executable attribute, that's why you got 'Permission denied' error.

In Terminal copy and paste the line below

chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash

Repeat the flashing procedure. Now should work.

May 25, 2011 3:13 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

First, I pasted the line <chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash>, then a space. Then I dragged DVRFlash into Terminal, typed a space, then <-f PIONEER >. Then I dragged the single firmware file into Terminal and pressed Return. Result:

Last login: Wed May 25 22:46:02 on ttyp1

Welcome to Darwin!

You have new mail.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$ chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash -f PIONEER /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122

chmod: -f: No such file or directory

chmod: PIONEER: No such file or directory

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$

Then I tried again. I pasted <chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash> and a space, then dragged the folder containing DVRFlash and the firmware file into Terminal and pressed Return. Result:

Last login: Wed May 25 23:03:25 on ttyp1

Welcome to Darwin!

You have new mail.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$ chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$

Should I try without -f? Or with -ff (because I found somewhere that what I am trying to do is cross-flashing, and this requires-ff)?

May 25, 2011 3:26 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Sorry. I was not clear in my previous post.

Copy and paste the line below without adding anything else

chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash

That line put the right executable attribute to drvflash.

After that go on with

/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash -f PIONEER /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122

The -f is superfluous as it is written in the Readme.txt

"If flashing a drive to an official update that includes only a single firmware file, the 'f' (force) parameter is not necessary. Neither is the 'v' (verbose) parameter ever necessary. For example:

./DVRFlash PIONEER R5100104.133

will update a Pioneer DVR-105 to version 1.33 without the kernel file. It is most important that both firmware and kernel files be used when downgrading a drive or cross-flashing OEM models"

May 25, 2011 3:37 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

I tried that. This was the result:

Last login: Wed May 25 23:24:02 on ttyp1

Welcome to Darwin!

You have new mail.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$ chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/ DVRFlash/dvrflash -f PIONEER /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122

chmod: /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/ DVRFlash/dvrflash: Not a directory

chmod: -f: No such file or directory

chmod: PIONEER: No such file or directory

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$

I'm sorry if I am misunderstanding your instructions.

But in your quotation from the DVRFlash 'Read me', there is this: 'It is most important that both firmware and kernel files be used when downgrading a drive or cross-flashing OEM models" Could it be that because my drive has the A707 firmware, it counts as an OEM model?

May 25, 2011 3:58 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Hope the picture clarify what I meant

Now the final part - flashing the firmware

May 25, 2011 5:44 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

My apologies for the delay: my ISP chose that moment to cut off my broadband connection while changes were made to my contract.

In the meantime I have discovered what I was doing wrong: I failed to press 'Return' after entering chmod 700 /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash.

Now thyat I have done so and entered

/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash -f PIONEER /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122, I have got this far:

THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,

THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE ABILITY OF THIS PROGRAM TO FLASH A

PIONEER OR COMPATIBLE DVR DRIVE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE

PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY

SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

THIS PROGRAM IS NOT ENDORSED BY PIONEER CORPORATION OR ANY

COMPANY RESELLING PIONEER EQUIPMENT AS THEIR OWN BRAND

IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PROGRAM AND

DISCHARGE BOTH THE AUTHOR AND PIONEER CORPORATION FROM ANY

DAMAGE OCCURING AS THE RESULT OF ITS USE, PLEASE INDICATE SO

BY ANSWERING THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:

Do you understand and agree to the statement above (y/n)?

But I cannot reply to the question. I have tried 'yes', 'y', 'I agree', 'agree'; even '+', all in upper and in lower case. All of them lead to

'Operation cancelled by user.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$'

How should I reply?

May 25, 2011 11:12 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Usually a y or n plus return key will suffice.

In my example (last picture) I didn't go ahead for obvious reasons. I do not have a DVD burn driver to update.

May 25, 2011 11:42 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Alberto, you have been so kind and helpful and spent so much time and effort helping to solve my problem that it is absolutely infuriating that the whole process should be blocked at this final stage. But I have tried every version of y, Y, yes and YES, with and without single and double quotation marks, and I cannot get past

'Operation cancelled by user.

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$'

I have also tried '+', '1' and phrases like 'I agree'.

May 26, 2011 12:10 AM in response to Michael Graubart

I know that what I am about to write it makes no sense, but have you tried answering n ?

I would also try without -f. You are not downgrading or cross-flashing your driver. Your computer does have just one Pioneer.

And as a last resort with a previous version of DVRFlash

DVRFlash v2.6.0 All Platforms

May 26, 2011 12:51 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

I did try 'n' earlier on — same negative result.

I have now tried DVRFlash 2.6.0 — exacrly same.

I then went back to v. 2.7.5 and used your two commands, but deleted -f from the second one. This got me some way further:

Do you understand and agree to the statement above (y/n)?

Commandline:

/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash PIONEER /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122

Drive Information:

Description : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-107D

Firmware Rev : A707

Firmware Date : 04/02/24

Manufacturer : PIONEER

Drive is in normal mode.

Firmwares and Drive type mismatch

unknown-00-0d-93-6e-ed-ce:~ michaelgraubart$

According to posts in the forum associated with DVRFlash ('The Firmware Page', http://forum.rpc1.org/), this should not matter because it is just a warning. But once again I cannot get any further.

May 26, 2011 3:29 AM in response to Michael Graubart

I read again the Readme.txt.

Launch

/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash

and press return. That would give you the complete string about your driver.

"run DVRFlash without any parameters to discover the driver identifier"

For example if the above command return "Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D" use that string on the complete command

/Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/dvrflash "Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D" /Users/michaelgraubart/Desktop/DVRFlash/R7100107.122

May 26, 2011 3:51 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

Dear Alberto, you have been incredibly kind and patient. I have, as I said earlier, also been corresponding with one of the administrators of the Firmware Page forum which is associated with DVRFlash, and he has reiterated that I need the additional Kernel firmware file. He was finally able to give me a link from which I got both firmware files (but for revision 1.21, not 1.22), and he also told me that I should use '-ff' in place of '-f'. It worked!

Unfortunately, though (after restarting my computer) the drive now works with its new 1.21 firmware, this whole operation has not solved the problem with which I started: the drive still ejects burnt DVDs a few seconds after they were inserted.

Thank you very much indeed for your help.

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Optical drive rejects DVDs