My MacBook's SuperDrive spins then ejects disc

Does this occur with all disks? Try the system DVD that came with your MacBook.

If it ejects that, it is likely that your optical drive has failed. Contact Apple at expresslane.apple.com if you are in a country that can use it, or if not call them at the appropriate phone number on this page to set up a repair. Alternatively you can carry your MacBook in to an Apple retail store or service provider.

Best of luck.

OK so about 2 days ago out of nowhere my Superdrive would grind and eject every disc that I put into it when just the day before it was working fine but this happened earlier in the month. I was told to use a DVD/CD cleaner and that didnt work! So as a computer tech im used to taking things apart so I went under my Macbook Pro which was out of warranty and removed the Superdrive to inspect it. Everything was in tact and i even plugged it in to the motherboard and turned the computer on while the top metal cover was off and the disk ran and said ready to burn my DVD but as soon as i screwed that case back on the Disc would grind and eject again. NOW heres the reason and the fix!......When metal heats it gets soft and bends and the top metal cover that screws in over the superdrive is just a flimsy piece of metal and when it gets hot from the computer and the spinning of a DVD or CD it bends down a little onto the DVD (the grinding noise) till eventually it touches the DVD so much that the macbook just spits it out because it cant spin properly! So what you need to do it take the cover off.....bend it upward a little so that theres a little room between the DVD and the roof of the Superdrive because when the DVD goes in that little black thing that spins the DVD raises it up a little and also make sure that the little hooks that the screws screw into isnt bent downward either! if they are bend them upward a lil so that they are straight! After doing all this the Superdrive should be working as it should when you got your Mac, mines dont grind and dont make noises anymore and it actually reads my DVD's and burnes them faster!

I have a late 08 MBP that was doing the same thing. I installed a new battery and went from 2G to 8G of memory. This was in prep for install of a my new Snow Leopard disk I just got in the mail. Once I cracked the case I got out the vacuum and cleaned it up. This MBP is 4 1/2 yrs old and it needed it. I was surprised how much it needed it. After all the mods/cleaning I put the new OS X disk in the drive and nothing. But the ram made a huge difference.

I perused the communities looking for what other folks did about their dead drives. I read about PRAM and cleaning kits and the most 'default' answer, "Time to replace." Well, having just been inside the case to install the ram, I might have 'undocked' something. I wanted to check it out before doing anything else.

I cracked the case once again. The little ribbon that conncects the optical drive to the the MBP is rather flimsy. It wouldn't take much to dislodge it. Certainly the vacuum job I did could have disconnected it.

I took the drive out. Took the cover off it. Made sure everything was blown out (compressed air) and wiped down. I was surprised how much dirt was on the 'eye'.

Put it back together, shoved the Snow Leopard disk in and boom, it worked. This is after two days of thinking/worrying about how I was going to get my new OS installed.