Mountain Lion Caused My SuperDrive to Fail - How Do I Downgrade Back to Snow Leopard?

Question

Mountain Lion Caused My SuperDrive to Fail - How Do I Downgrade Back to Snow Leopard?

Recently I updated to Mac OS X Mountain Lion, immediately after the update, my SuperDrive no longer accepts ANY disc. At first, it would spit every disc out immediately within a matter of seconds. But now, it attempts to read the disc for about 15secs before spitting out ANY and ALL discs.

I surfed the internet looking for a solution and could not seem to find a working solution. So pretty much I'm extremely frustrated with Mountain Lion overall and would like to downgrade back to Snow Leopard.

Problem is, my superdrive does not accept any discs, so I cannot use the original disc I started with to downgrade. And I'm trying to avoid wiping my hard drive to execute the downgrade in case my super drive still doesn't work when I try to install the original Snow Leopard OS.

All in all, I'm very fed up with Mountain Lion, and just want Snow Leopard back. Please help!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Sep 29, 2012 6:17 PM

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Answer 1

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 29, 2012 6:24 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

Do you have a backup of your previous system?

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Answer 2

Sep 29, 2012 6:35 PM in response to Csound1

Sadly, I do not have a backup from Snow Leopard available.. 😟

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Answer 3

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Sep 29, 2012 6:42 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

Then you have problems, Snow Leopard is only available on DVD, this is the major one. Take it to an Apple Store would be my advice, but I would try reinstalling ML from the recovery partition before I did. Also reset PRAM and SMC before you do either.

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Answer 4

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Sep 29, 2012 6:44 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

Unfortunately, you cannot "downgrade" without erasing the disk. So, since you do not have a backup, you'd have to boot from the original install disk, wipe the drive, and reinstall. You could make a backup of your current files, etc. and move those back over.

I don't have an answer why your drive suddenly does not work, but that appears to be a hardware issue and a software upgrade really does not break hardware. these Superdrives are extremely slim, laptop style, vertically installed drives and therefore very finicky. I had one fail within the first year, so your problem may just be coincidental. I'd suggest making an appointment at your nearest Genius Bar and get a diagnosis - you obviously need your drive unless you have an external burner you could use.

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Sep 29, 2012 6:49 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

For the supedrive issue, Zap the PRAM and Reset the SMC, then try again.

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Answer 6

Sep 29, 2012 6:50 PM in response to babowa

Guys,

Thanks for your speedy responses. I reset both my PRAM and SMC once, although I saw talk about making sure to do it multiple times. I'll definitely try that again. I reinstalled ML normally once already, in reinstalling it via the Recovery Drive any different? Will I lose data that way?

Babowa - I was hoping I wouldn't have to wipe my drive but figured it would come down to that. I'm not entirely sure how to go about backing up my current files? Since I'm running ML now if I create a back up, go through all the necessary steps to wipe my disk and what not, and then restore the back up, would that put me back onto ML?

Thanks again for your help!

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Answer 7

Sep 29, 2012 6:51 PM in response to baltwo

Baltwo - I'll try again, and report back... Thanks!

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Answer 8

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Sep 29, 2012 6:57 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

Well, let's wait until after you've followed the other suggestions - maybe those will take care of the problem. In any case, some things are updated in ML so you cannot use them in SL (Mail for instance) - you would have to re-import individual emails (not even the folders, just the emails). But, anything in your Home folder such as videos, music, files, photos, etc. should be able to port over. But, it is quite involved, so you'll need to think about whether or not you want to go through with it. You do have to erase - there is no way around it.

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Answer 9

Sep 29, 2012 7:08 PM in response to babowa

Baltwo - I appreciate your suggestion, but yet again the drive is still dead, and has spit out all the discs again.. :/

Babowa - It looks as if I'm going to have to erase, I'm just worried that once I erase and what not, my drive may still be unresponsive and I won't be able to use my original OS X installation disc...

I'm 95% sure that Mountain Lion caused my drive to fail, I saw several other posts about broken superdrives after the Mountain Lion update, and even went back and found people who had the same problem after updating to Lion... I really wish there was a way to downgrade without erasing, but I understand it looks as if I don't have much of a choice. Is there anyway to determine whether or not my superdrive is disfunctional? On screen it appears fine, it just won't accept any disc...

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Answer 10

Sep 29, 2012 7:10 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

I've seen some people having to delete certain com.apple plist files (which I also tried and it didn't work), other people with the same problem had to remove certain applications, etc. I think there is some sort of glitch or even glitches that can cause the SuperDrive to fail, but then again, as stated earlier, it could just be a coincidence...

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Answer 11

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Sep 29, 2012 7:30 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

What do you mean it looks fine "on screen"? Where do you see your Superdrive?

Mine failed because the mechanism that guides the CDs/DVDs was defective/broken. I was not able to insert anything completely - only about halfway and then it stopped. They replaced the drive under warranty.

FWIW, I've not heard of a software update or upgrade break the Superdrive.

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Answer 12

Sep 29, 2012 7:41 PM in response to babowa

Babowa - By On Screen, I mean it still shows up in the disk utility and reads the following:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-898:

Firmware Revision: HE13

Interconnect: ATAPI

Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)

Cache: 1024 KB

Reads DVD: Yes

CD-Write: -R, -RW

DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW

Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose File > Refresh Information

There are several links here on the support forums with manyyy others having the same problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4150905?start=30&tstart=0

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Answer 13

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Sep 29, 2012 7:44 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

Well, since baltwo's suggestions didn't work, I'd take it to the Genius Bar to get a diagnosis.

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Answer 14

Sep 29, 2012 7:49 PM in response to babowa

Sighhh yeahh guess I'll be doing that tomorrow.. I wish there was a fix to this as soo many others had the same problem. It's very frustrating, especially since my Mac is out of warranty... I'll be sure to post whatever I find out. Thanks again guys.

If anyone has any other suggestions I should try, let me know!

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Answer 15

Oct 5, 2012 1:32 PM in response to WashingtonJoe

I have this same problem with my Mac Mini (2010), and have yet to find a solution.

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