PowerMac G4 (AGP) not recognizing DVDs

Sherrod, I think it has to do with the drive that came with the machine.
My friend has the sam model as you. He has a Hitachi GD-3000 cd/dvd drive. It'll play movies and will work with Tiger dvd. However, it will not read burn dvds. I tried using dvd- and dvd+ on the machine.

Hi Sherrod!

Can you tell us which vendor and model optical drive was originally installed, and which vendor/model optical drive you replaced it with?

Certain drives have limited support with different versions of OS X. When Apple releases new OS updates or upgrades, they usually include additional optical drive support.

#1 Try resetting the NVRAM/PRAM: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

#2 Use Disk Utility (from the Utilities folder) to repair disk permissions, then reboot and try again.

#3 If the above 2 steps fail to resolve the issue, update to Mac OS X 10.3.9 (the last update to Panther): http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxcombinedupdate1039.html

#4 Make sure your AGP G4 is running with the latest firmware: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117 (I think it probably is since you're running OS X...but still double-check)

#5 If all else fails, try using PatchBurn 3.1.4 to create a profile for your optical drive: http://www.patchburn.de/download.html

#6 Check out this compatibility database to ensure the optical drive you installed has been tested to be fully compatible with your system (note that it might not be listed): http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

If nothing else...

Open the Console application (in the Utilities folder), which will open the console.log file be default. From the File menu, select "Open System Log."

With both Console windows open, insert a DVD-ROM disc and see what messages (if any) are added to the bottom of these windows. Copy them and post back to us, along with more info on your optical drives.

Here's some other misc. articles I dug up on Apple's site:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58382
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58707

Keep us posted!

When OSX installs on a machine with no internal DVD drive it does not install the DVD Player application. That's why you can't play DVDs now. If you install Tiger (check first to see if you need a firmware update, and be sure you have at least 512MB RAM) you should be able to play DVDs.
If you want to play DVDs now get VLC (Video Lan Client) from
<http://www.videolan.org>

Malcolm,

Even if there may be no DVD Player application installed, shouldn't the DVD mount to the desktop?

BTW - the DVD Player application can be extracted from the Panther install disk by downloading and using Pacifist, which is uncrippled shareware which can be tried for free. (IMO is worth it's price.)

Regards,
Gary

ps to Sherrod: Welcome to the Discussions!

Even if there may be no DVD Player application
installed, shouldn't the DVD mount to the desktop?

If Finder's preferences are set to show it.

BTW - the DVD Player application can be extracted
from the Panther install disk by downloading and
using Pacifist.

It is a used machine, so I wasn't sure he had Panther disks, but he was going to install Tiger (hence the DVD drive installation), so that would take care of the DVD player application.

Before you further screw things up with a million different suggestions, just put your dvd in the dvd drive, shut off the computer, then startup holding the c key down. It should start right off of the dvd drive.

Hi Sherrod,

I'm afraid that I have the same problem with my digital audio. I upgraded from an internal cd to an internal 3rd party dvd. (Specifically, I have a Lite-on dvdrw shw-160p6s.) I can play cd's & dvd.

But I can't read the tiger install. I can't boot it with or without holding 'C'. It (the tiger install dvd) will not even mount; so I can't manually install. I returned it but the new one was identical.

I have burned dvd's on this drive and they are readable by other computers. I opened a case with apple. The support suggested that I try my install disk on another apple. (The tiger dvd is not recognized my a PC.) I found that the dvd was readable by the G5. So ... it appears that the tiger install dvd is not compatible with all brands/models of dvd drives. Apple suggested that I look to the vendor for patches. But I only found a patch for a PC. (I my try swapping the model in my PC; same brand different model.)

My question for those who can read it: Is it in an unusual format? What medial is it using?

It looks like I need to either find a compatible drive or trade the dvd in for cds.

Unfortunately, I think you have the same problem.

Eric

My1stMac:

If you also have a G5 (which I'm inferring from your post), you can connect the two Macs via FW Target Disk Mode and install the Tiger DVD from the G5 onto the G4:

1. Insert the install DVD into your G5.
2. Start the G5 while holding down the "t" key.
3. Connect the two computers with a firewire cable.
4. Boot the G4 while depressing the Option-key to get to the Startup Manager.
5. Select the install DVD as boot drive and click the arrow on the right to boot to it.

Insure that you're using a retail version of Tiger for the G4 install, versus a machine-specific Tiger OEM DVD.

Gary

ps: Check your jumper settings on the optical drive, which are normally set to master. If you swap the drive to the PC, you can flash it there to upgrade its firmware.

What does System Profiler show for the optical drive when you have a DVD inserted?

You can also use find on the install disk and run the package that it locates.

Let's play nice here, okay? After all, the Discussions belong to all of us. A fellow member's well-meant suggestion really should be accepted as such by everyone on a thread.

Thanks,
Gary