dvd and CD drive not working it will not accept any disc

I found a lot of people on the internet were complaining about the same issue and discounting the first crazy (so i thought) bit of advice I read I set about reinstalling drivers, rebooting, reinstalling Snow Leopard, PRAM reset, deleting permissions etc etc to no avail. So as a last resort, totally fed up at this point and resigned to buying a new DVD drive / Macbook I remembered the first bit of advice I read.

I took out my Tesco Clubcard, wrapped it in a Vision Express lense cloth, jammed it about 3 cm's in to the optical drive slot and wiggled it about a bit. I couldn't beleive the amount of crud that came out of it. I used the same method with several baby wipes and guess what...

It worked!!!

I can now play all my DVD's and CD's

Wish I'd just done this in the first place.

Matt

mattcurtis777 - this absolutely worked for me as well. I reset the SMC, the PRAM and the NVRAM and to no avail. I then took a baby wipe, cut it in half, put it around a credit card, stuck it in probably a little further than 3 cm, moved it around for a while, some crud came out. I then inserted a blank DVD (my goal) and what do you know - it recognized it and didn't eject it like it had been doing. Thanks! So net-net folks - start with this approach first.

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)

1. Shut down the computer.

2. Unplug the computer's power cord.

3. Wait fifteen seconds.

4. Attach the computer's power cord.

5. Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.

and NVRAM and PRAM

1. Shut down the computer.

2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.

3. Turn on the computer.

4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.

5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.

6. Release the keys.

..................

Thank you so much Matt!! This is the first time my cd/dvd player has worked in years! The card trick really worked. It didn't work right away. I worked on it for about 30 minutes before it would accept my cc's. I found that for me it wouldn't work until I used the baby wipes to moisten the inside. THEN the cloth was able to pull all the junk out. To all who also have this problem- just be persistent!

go to the apple symbol at the top left select "about this mac" then hit the "storage" tab when this screen is up place the disk in all the way it should take the disk.

This is a work around I have use now on 3 Apple's an iMac a Mac Mini and Macbook pro seems to be an issue across the board.

Cheers Patrick

Genius ! It worked, not at the first try, not at the second try, but after 2 minutes i tried again to launch the DVD and it worked.

The dvd player was not dirty but it seems that he liked the wipe thing

Thanks !

I'm so happy I found this topic! Matt, you are a genius! Worked for me too! Thank you so much! I have a 2008 MacBook Pro and I haven't been able to watch DVD's for years, always got frustrated after the drive ejected almost every time. Sometimes on the 10th try it would work, but I hardly had that much patience to mess with it. God bless you!

I was extremely skeptical of Matt's method at first, and was sure I was going to end up in the Apple store with an even more busted drive because of it, but I'm amazed to say that the credit card/baby wipe method actually works.

Thank you so bloomin' much Matt!!! The whole time i've had my 2013 Macbook, the disk drive has never worked, I assumed because i've dropped it a couple times and thought it had just knocked it out of place or something (I don't know how the drive works in Macbooks) but I just tried a make up wipe and my driving license and voila, worked a bloody charm! I CAN NOW BURN CD'S MUAHAHAHA

You are a genius. Thank you so much for sharing your advice. Seriously you saved me from having a mental breakdown and throwing my computer, which would have been pretty bad since I depend on it to do my job.

Another help source (if you haven't already done so).

Go to your OS Help Menu. In the search field type dvd

Click on all the troubleshooting topics & Support Articles that pertain to your issue.

You can also do the same in Disk Utility. Open same up.

At the bottom left of the window, click on the purple button w/the "?" in the middle.

This will bring up the Help Menu.

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Try a different brand. Top forum favorites

CDs

FUJI

TDK

Verbatim

DVDs

Maxell

Verbatim

Make sure the DVDs are not dirty, smudged and/or scratched.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=50448
How to Handle and Clean CD and DVD Discs

Your drive may need cleaning. Cleaning kits can be purchased from any store that sells CD/DVDs.

None of the above are working for me. I tried every single one. Last time I used by disc drive was two days ago & it was working fine. I have a Macbook Pro from 2008. Any other troubleshooting ideas?

Matt, thanks! My drive has not worked for the longest time, and I was really sad about that. Today I read your post, and I wrapped a lens cloth in a business card and went to work... you are right, unbelievable amount of dust! And once I got enough dust out, I tried putting a CD in, and recognized it right away! I can't believe how happy I am over a stupid CD-ROM drive.... My life must be filled with first world problems...

It took several tries, but this eventually worked for me, too! At first I tried with my driver's license and a lens cloth, but that didn't work. Then I went to baby wipes, and after four or five attempts, voila! My CD drive is back in action.

Had a Mac Pro CD player not working for 2 years, tried all the usual, nothing.

Then I did as you described (didn't have Tesco, used Hughes & Hughes Bookseller's card) and now CD plays fine.

Couldn't believe it, after months of frustration, had imagined it was a major problem.

Thanks!!