SuperDrive just stopped working

Sep 3, 2006 11:22 AM in response to mrtotes

Using the article at xlr8yourmac.com, I installed a Pioneer 111D drive in my iMac, after my stock Pioneer 105 started acting up. All you need for the operation is a print out of the guide, Torx 10 & 15 screwdrivers (or bits), a small philips screwdriver, and some thermal paste. I replaced the battery at the same time, since I didn't want to go back in anytime soon.

iMac G4 17" 1Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

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Sep 9, 2006 5:21 PM in response to MACCOLUESR

O.K. I solved my problem.

How? I bought a DVR-R100 from pioneer in a retail store in my country, I placed the drive on the machine. It was a little bit difficult because the drive do not open at the first time. The problem is that the drive has some plastic parts in the front than the original do not have and those parts makes the drive to enter with a little bit pressure. i solved, with a knife, I cut part of the plastic to assure the drive to enter without pressure.

I do no t need any type of driver, the system recognize inmediately the drive and thats it.

I have now a drive with a 16x maximum speed

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mrtotes

Level 6

11,836 points

Sep 11, 2006 8:32 AM in response to MACCOLUESR

Good news. Thanks for posting back with your success. 😉

kind regards

mrtotes

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Sep 11, 2006 12:28 PM in response to mrtotes

Thermal Paste is about $2.50.

I suspect the
vast majority of iMac G4 owners are quite happy with
their Superdrives but I'd be genuinely interested to
know if you're getting much response from users
wanting to join your action.

I know a guy
called Chris
posted here recently with the much more common dead
iMac G4 screen issue. He was successful in using the
UK's Sale of Goods Act 1979 which states a item must
last an appropriate length of time. He was successful and the UK
retailer he bought his iMac G4 from footed the bill.
Now I know that doesn't directly apply to you but
perhaps you could investigate whether a similar law
is in place in the US.

HTH

mrtotes

No one has responded. I did have a post removed by apple. I will look into the UK suit. Thanks.
Maggie121

iMac G4 17" flat panel Mac OS X (10.3.9) G4-1GHz-256 KB-578 MB

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Sep 14, 2006 6:14 AM in response to Doug Holm

I went to my local apple store today and told them I was made as... and wanted the phone number of Cupertino office to call and complain. I told the salesman that everyone on here is frustrated and just wants a simple answer.
Told him about lens cleaning, blowing air into computer and every other thing I've seen here. ESPECIALLY THAT THEY ARE ALL BREAKING AT ONCE!! I also said I'm thinking of a class action lawsuit to get free replacements. He was very nice and gave me the number and an email address. I'm calling later this morning and will keep you all informed. I also told him I'm not putting another Pioneer in my computer because I'm afraid in 2 yrs the same thing will happen. I'm going external and he showed me the La Cie w/toast but suggested the G-force (I think that's the name) 160GB for 169.00$$$ plus tax. He said the genius bar guys all say it's the best. I'll post in a few hours what apple says.
Maggie121

iMac G4 17" flat panel Mac OS X (10.3.9) G4-1GHz-256 KB-578 MB

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Sep 19, 2006 8:10 PM in response to peggypan2

So add me to the broken Super Drive club. Symptoms are:
Squeaks a few times when you put a blank DVD -R and DVD + R into the drive then spits it out. Cannot mount it and therefore burn a DVD.
Discovered this when I went to burn probably the 3rd DVD I have ever created in 4 years. Perfect. Seems like they all got whacked at the same time - so I suspect a software error - so i would expect to get a patch from Apple in return for the dot mac subscription. Right ?

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Sep 21, 2006 2:06 AM in response to Apple Slave

So add me to the broken Super Drive club. Symptoms
are:
Squeaks a few times when you put a blank DVD -R and
DVD + R into the drive then spits it out. Cannot
mount it and therefore burn a DVD.
Discovered this when I went to burn probably the 3rd
DVD I have ever created in 4 years. Perfect. Seems
like they all got whacked at the same time - so I
suspect a software error - so i would expect to get a
patch from Apple in return for the dot mac
subscription. Right ?

Wrong!
I went to 2 apple stores, people are bringing these in left and right
These superdrives are defective and we should all band together and sue!
Apple and Pioneer knew of this problem 2 years ago!
We only found out when they broke and we came here for help
There is no help! They don't care!
I'm not putting another Pioneer in, that's for sure
My sister is a lawyer and is trying to get some info
I will let you all know the outcome
I say class action lawsuit for a defective product
They should have recalled these when it first started
I'm really mad at the wanton disregard to all of us!
Sorry but I can't afford a new computer every 2-3 years
I'm really getting the treatment from my PC friends
How many times have I heard I told you so?
Come on Apple step up and show us what kind of company you are!
A good one or carpetbaggers?

iMac G4 17" flat panel Mac OS X (10.3.9) G4-1GHz-256 KB-578 MB

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Sep 24, 2006 3:21 PM in response to Doug Holm

Well, it just happened to me too, but the symptoms were a bit unusual. My iMac has a Pioneer DVR-105 in it.

I wanted to use the new iTunes 7.0 (70) that I just downloaded the other day to burn some CDs. First I read in a couple store-bought CDs I just bought, no problem. Then I put in a blank CD to burn the first copy to keep in my car.

When I started to burn the CD, I heard an unusual "Clunk" sound from the DVD player, but the CD burned normally. After that, the DVD player didn't work *AT ALL*, except it opened and closed the drawer when I pressed the eject button. It wouldn't recognize any type of CD or DVD, pre-recorded or blank. But it didn't spit them out after a period of time either. As far as I could tell based on the "usual noises", the drive didn't spin when a disc was in it.

After reading around on this forum a bit and trying a bunch of things to no avail (rebooting, creating new user account, deleting com.apple.DVDPlayer.plist, etc.), I finally dug up an old Apple test CD (from 10.3 I think), and tried to boot from it by holding down the 'c' key during restart.

What do you know? When the machine rebooted, I heard the same "Clunk" sound, and then it booted right up from the test CD. Hallelujah, problem solved!!! Now my DVD drive is working normally again.

I think in my case, there's a bug in iTunes 7.0; this was clearly a software problem. I haven't tried burning another CD yet.

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Sep 26, 2006 7:16 AM in response to Doug Holm

For what it's worth...

Just had the same problem described frequently in this post...CD's go into Pioneer DVDR-104 Super Drive, chunk around a bit, then eject without mounting. They were writing correctly sometimes, other times not, but never mounting if written in the SuperDrive. Tried everything to no avail, then finally got out the can of air and blew at every angle I could around and into the drive (without disassembling the iMac in any way).

Since then, it works like a charm. Which is not to say these drives aren't breaking right and left...just worked for me 🙂

iMac 800 FP w/ Superdrive Mac OS X (10.4.7) iSight

iMac 800 FP w/ Superdrive Mac OS X (10.4.7) iSight

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Sep 26, 2006 12:59 PM in response to Doug Holm

It is an old story ... the Pioneer DVR 104 in my iMac also is working strangely. I am planning on replacing it. What worries me a bit is that I read somewhere that, after installing 10.4.4 problems started. Is it possible that my new drive (DVR 111) will start giving problems as well?

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Oct 1, 2006 2:01 AM in response to Jan Mostert

I just want to say thanks to all of you who have posted regarding failing Superdrives in your fp iMacs. This information was quite helpful to me. My Sony U10A just died on the 28th. Previously, I had no idea that failing drives were such a big problem with this type of iMac. At first I thought it was just a problem burning photo CDs. I checked this forum and found all these 'dead drive' posts. After trying to burn an audio CD, and one of my old disk images to DVD with failures of both, I knew it was the drive itself that was the problem.
I went to local 'We Fix Macs' store and got the Pioneer DVR-111D installed. I am hoping it lasts longer!

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Oct 1, 2006 9:13 AM in response to Beverly Maneatis

I have the same functionality problem, but my System Profiler lists:

HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GCA-4020B:

Firmware Revision: D02D
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 1312 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

I don't think HL-DT-ST is Pioneer or Sony. I'll try some of the proposed fixes and report back.

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