I'm having the same problem on my 17-inch. This is the first disk I tried to burn through iTunes after I downloaded and installed the latest version. Not only does the CD not eject, the system will not recognize that the drive exists.
Same problem with mine. All typical solutions exhausted. Apple Store Genius Bar personnel took it to the "back room" and even after opening up the unit could not get the CD extracted. **** shame... new Paul Simon CD. They estimate $500. if you send it to Apple and replace the drive. The **** with that.
Try going to the Terminal and typing "drutil tray eject" and pressing enter. I can't caurantee this will work, however, but if it doesn't, boot in Single User Mode (Command-S? I'm not sure) and try typing it again... if THAT doesn't work, you are up the creek without the paddle!
Hi. I also had a CD eject problem from my PB G4 12". It used to work fine and today, the disc went in and then a loud grinding noise, followed by inability to eject the disc. The disc read fine (audio) but when I tried to eject it, there was forced laboured sound from the slot drive and then the disc stayed in and it was re-read by itself! I think I will take it in tomorrow for a Apple Genius check up. I am really upset that would happen over the weekend!
Actually, I was a little inaccurate when I said you'd be up the creek without the paddle. Boot your Mac while holding down Command-Option-O-F. Once you see a white screen saying something about "Open Firmware", release the keys. Type "eject cd" (minus the quotes) and then press Enter. The CD should come out. Then, type "mac-boot" and press enter to continue starting up. If it does not come out this way the CD is physically stuck in there and you'll have to send it in for repairs.
I have dealt with this problem at least a dozen times. Before restarting I try a mix of things, Open iTunes and press the eject button on the bottom right, Open DVD Player and do the same. If these do not help restart your computer and when it boots up hold down the 'option' key. Doing this will start your computer in a boot from menu. It will take 2-5 mins and it will scan both the Hard Drive and the disc when it determines that the disc does not contain a bootable OS it ejects it and forces you to click boot from Hard Drive.
There has got to be a work around for this. Does Apple really expect us to stop what we're doing and reboot our machines every time a "bad" disc gets stuck in the drive (from a failed burn, import, etc)?
I never thought I'd find the Macintosh Achilles Heel, but it appears as though I have…
I will assume those posting here have gotten an answer by now but ....
I always get stuck discs out!
I reboot and press the eject button repeatedly.
Actually there seems to be a specific sweet spot right after entering the grey screen and before the "progressing circle" appears. With right timing, I perhaps only need to hit the eject button 5 times at a rate of about once per two seconds and then I hear the 'preparing to eject' sound in the drive and I stop, and the disk ejects.
This does not necessarily apply to discs stuck by some physical impairment of the disk. I have had that as well. (a disc with a vendor applied 'property of' ring that was peeling up, or a disc damaged in the center circle, - missing some plastic)
In those cases I found an article I believe in apple's knowledge base discussing the paper clip technique.
However, even with these, a repeated use of the reboot-eject scheme described above, I have gotten them out. Perhaps the disk ends up rotated in a way that the loose or damage piece trails instead of leads.
Therefore for me, this is not an achilles heal. Just very annoying.
Especially annoying when a disc gets stuck in an ongoing cycle of trying to read a damaged section. With these I have tried force quitting the finder and had success but not always. In which case the reboot-eject scheme or even just a reboot which puts the disk read back somewhere safe on the disk.
It would seem Apple could build into the machines a key combination which will force the drive to stop trying to read or stop being in that stuck cycle. These are computers. They can be programmed to recognize the drive is in a useless vicious cycle and give the user an option to continue or take alternative actions.
Likewise, if rebooting and hitting the eject kicks out an otherwise stuck disk, a key combination could dismiss the drives actions (like a reboot) and force eject - even if I would then have to restart to get the drive function loaded properly again. At least I could finish other work before quitting everything to get the drive back.
Hopefully this is already being built into new machines.
I have tried all your good advice. But nothing helps, I am afraid. The drive isn't recognized in the system even. A DVD is stuck dead in the machine. 😟
Steffen
You need to provide a bit more information.
Has the drive been fine until this recent DVD?
Have there been any other disc related problems or preemptive signs of odd behavior prior to this recent stuck disc?
Is the DVD commercially made or user made?
What condition was the disc?
When you restart your Mac in a quiet environment, do you hear the disc spin?
Have you heard it spin in the past?
Thanks for your response. I appreciate it. I will provide more info...
Has the drive been fine until this recent DVD? Yes - no problems until now.
Have there been any other disc related problems or preemptive signs of odd behavior prior to this recent stuck disc? No!
Is the DVD commercially made or user made?Commercially made - BUT bought in China.
What condition was the disc? Fine new. But after playing it fine my Pioneer DVD player sudden said "CANNOT BE PLAYED"
When you restart your Mac in a quiet environment, do you hear the disc spin?
Have you heard it spin in the past? No disc spin now. Disc used to spin fine.
Also... the system cannot see the drive. In System profile the discburner and discdrive is not existing.
No sound at all on restart?
Even if the computer is shut down for a few minutes?
Not recognized in System Profile!
This exceeds my experience.
I wonder if something has happened to the Superdisc driver?
I would want to test the drive with something like Tech Tool Pro which I have installed but if not, I would need to find a downloadable utility.
Being of a sudden nature with a disc out of this region gives thought of an issue with the region code setting. I have never had to reset this thus no advise, just a thought.
Did you find the article on how to manually eject a disc using a paper clip. And did you try this? When I did this, it was not simple. There was a sweet spot I hit after much fidgeting - somewhere in the left 1/3 of the slot. And bingo-boingo, out came the disc. But I never thought my drive was dead when I did this. I know that a few times I could feel the spinning edge of the disc.
If you cannot find the article let me know, I may have it stored.
Harmz
