eh1255

Q: superdrive won't draw discs in

I ejected a disk from my iMac (fall 2010) this evening, and now I can't put it back in. Discs just sit in the slot - it has stopped pulling them in.

Any advice would be appreciated.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Feb 1, 2012 3:35 PM

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Q: superdrive won't draw discs in

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  • by the Beast of Middlesex County,

    the Beast of Middlesex County the Beast of Middlesex County Aug 28, 2014 6:22 AM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Aug 28, 2014 6:22 AM in response to eh1255
  • by scottb8888,

    scottb8888 scottb8888 Oct 6, 2014 4:19 AM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 6, 2014 4:19 AM in response to eh1255

    My 2009 MBP will not take discs.  Push the disc in and nothing happens.  If I look under my mac it says the drive is powered down?  Any thoughts?

  • by gmeddy,

    gmeddy gmeddy Oct 20, 2014 11:20 PM in response to gravitas41
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 20, 2014 11:20 PM in response to gravitas41

    I too followed the reset SMC procedure which has worked for me twice in the past with this same issue, but today it didn't work.

    I came across this "drutil eject" command and gave that a go using Terminal - follow these instructions here.

    It didn't work, but I persisted, repeating the command a second and third time, each time trying to push the CD in, and each time it just went in almost half way and then hit the hard stopper...

    then i tried "drutil eject internal" even though my macbook does not have two drives, and I noticed the sound it made was different from the sound it made each time i had done the previous command. I repeated this step around 3 times, and then noticed the hard stopper was gone and the disc slid all the way in and everything worked like new again.

     

    try that.

  • by anthws,

    anthws anthws Oct 26, 2014 3:47 PM in response to gmeddy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 26, 2014 3:47 PM in response to gmeddy

    my MBP hadn't been used in a LONG time...  the drive wouldn't respond (wouldn't draw in discs).  tried shoving it in all the way (even used a tiny screwdriver to push in as far as it would go and a spring mechanism pushed it back out enough to grab.  What finally worked for me was to shove the disc in rapidly (like trying to throw it in) with a sharp motion.  the drive woke up, read the disc, and began to work correctly (so far).  next, i'm handing it over to my wife, who wants to duplicate some dvds she made from video camera files.  hope this helps someone.

  • by plaidasparagus,

    plaidasparagus plaidasparagus Dec 2, 2014 6:05 PM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 2, 2014 6:05 PM in response to eh1255

    I had the same issue after having to force eject a CD that I was given by a friend. The CD had 2 layers of Laserprinter CD Labels on it and the machine was struggling to read it. It sounded like a sputtering engine when it was spinning the disc. I force ejected the disc but the disc never ejected even though the dialog box that appeared said it did. I wound up restarting the computer and the disc ejected itself on restart. I noticed an unfamiliar hum coming from the computer and tried to insert a standard CD (without a label on it) but the drive wouldn't draw it in. I pushed it in as far as I could and it touched something that I could tell was spinning. It was as though the SuperDrive was spinning a CD that was not even there.

     

    I check "About this Mac" and Disk Utility and my SuperDrive was not showing up on either. It was as if the SuperDrive wasn't there, although I could hear the hum of it spinning without a disc.

     

    I restarted the machine...That did not work.

    I restarted from a boot drive and opened Disc Utility to Repair Permissions and Repair Disk and restarted...Still did not work

    I reset both the SMC and the PRAM...THAT WORKED

     

    Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

  • by jvd_vetrad,

    jvd_vetrad jvd_vetrad Feb 6, 2015 9:14 AM in response to foulfa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 6, 2015 9:14 AM in response to foulfa

    FIXED

     

    This works - I cut a blank CD in half and then offered the half to the optical bay slot and winkled it further in, past the mechanical block meanwhile I did drutil eject on Terminal.  This brought the drive back to life an blockage cleared.  I kept hold of the corner of the CD not wanting it to disappear in to the drive never to re-appear!! This is very much a mechanical problem.  The inactive drive could be seen on About this Mac and could be seen but faint grey on Disc Utility.  Happened after installing Yosemite - there may or may not be a connection.  Thank you foulfa.

  • by Paper Teacher,

    Paper Teacher Paper Teacher Feb 17, 2015 6:12 PM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2015 6:12 PM in response to eh1255

    I tried many ways from this forum.

     

    First I tried putting a disc as far as I could into the SuperDrive.

     

    Second, drutil eject.

     

    It didn't work. OK new try.

     

    I again tried to put a disc as far as I could.

    And then I lifted up MacBook Pro on the side of SuperDrive and push the disc in. Ha ha ha IT WORKED!!!

     

    Thanks to all.

  • by Bodshaw,

    Bodshaw Bodshaw Jun 14, 2015 4:30 AM in response to Paper Teacher
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 4:30 AM in response to Paper Teacher

    2011 21.5" iMac with any disc presented to the SuperDrive coming up against a dead stop.

     

    Tried a couple simple fixes before resetting NVRAM, an audible click was heard from the drive as whatever it was blocking the disc retracted and since then i have been trouble free.

     

    Good luck

  • by Moradiya Paras,

    Moradiya Paras Moradiya Paras Jun 16, 2015 1:08 AM in response to pairAdice
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPad
    Jun 16, 2015 1:08 AM in response to pairAdice

    I am also having same problem, superdrive won't draw disk. In my MBP, CD is not draw fully inside the superdrive, just 2 mm part of CD is outside. While I am trying to push the disk, it feels like there is spring inside which is not allow the disk to enter.

    Please help me in this case.

    MATSHITA DVD-

    Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 1.37.31 PM.png

  • by deven09,

    deven09 deven09 Jun 18, 2015 8:35 AM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 18, 2015 8:35 AM in response to eh1255

    **FIXED**

     

    I just had this problem and here is how I fixed it.

     

    1. Using a credit card, find where the superdrive is getting held up. It was near the top of the drive for me (i.e. closer to the screen).

    2. Open Terminal (Open Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal).

    3. Playing with the card on the held up section of the super drive enter the text "drutil eject" into Terminal (without the quotes).

    4. Execute the command in Terminal by pressing enter.

    5. Listen for the superdrive reacting to the command. If you hear it, try entering a disc. If you don't hear it and/or a disc still won't insert, repeat steps 3-5.

     

    Hope this helps!

  • by Mdanielmd,

    Mdanielmd Mdanielmd Oct 1, 2015 3:43 PM in response to iCare
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 3:43 PM in response to iCare

    HI! In my case, de disc hits something solid... It doesn't go further. Do you know what shoul I do?

     

    Thanks!

  • by sbetz6,

    sbetz6 sbetz6 Oct 1, 2015 5:20 PM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 5:20 PM in response to eh1255

    I've done the eject command in terminal many times.  It just brings the dvd in and will eject it the next time.  But the dvd still won't load on its own.  I haven't tried the broken cd thing yet, is that what I need to do?

  • by qahtani,

    qahtani qahtani Oct 2, 2015 9:26 PM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 9:26 PM in response to eh1255

    I pushed the disc in a little bit too hard while repeating the eject command in Terminal, and then heard a snap.  I'm going to write this off as a loss and be happy that everything else works.  If I need to open the machine up for some reason in the future I can put in a new drive I suppose.  Thankfully, reliance on optical media is very limited nowadays and I have an external drive.  The last few times I put a disc into the drive it required significantly more force than before, so maybe it was already kaput. 

  • by ImageWorx71,

    ImageWorx71 ImageWorx71 Dec 23, 2015 10:07 PM in response to eh1255
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 10:07 PM in response to eh1255

    Try this for a semi-unresponsive superdrive!


    My external superdrive wouldn't take a disc and then would reject it after a few seconds. It would show under "About This Mac" but not the Finder.  It also would make a little noise when attached to the USB port.

     

    I entered the "drutil eject" command in the terminal fifty times without a disc, and then with the disc pushed in at various intervals but then I tried holding the drive upside down and typed the command and it reset itself somehow and now works perfect!  So don't just use that command with the drive sitting in it's normal position.  I carry the SuperDrive around in the laptop bag with me everyday and I think something just got out of place slightly.

     

    I also have to hold my older MacBook with built in SuperDrive vertically for the disc to eject!

  • by hwhuyler,

    hwhuyler hwhuyler Mar 18, 2016 3:01 PM in response to pairAdice
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 18, 2016 3:01 PM in response to pairAdice

    I have an iMac 21 inch OS El Capitan, External Super Drive. I tried all of the previous comments. CMD F12, About this MAC, reset PRAM/AVRAM, drutil eject; Restart and / or Shutdown after each, finally (and I think that this was in a comment) I disconnected my SuperDrive from my USB HUB, and VIOLA! it is now working and I can load my 2016 TurnboTax.

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