DVD is physically stuck and I want to diable the dvd writer
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), DVD is physically stuc
To force an ejection: reboot OS X, and press the Eject or the F12 button after the startup chime, or press and hold the mouse or trackpad button after the chime.
This is the "emergency" eject sequence, and doesn't disable the DVD drive. That's more typically done via disassembly and physical removal of the (presumably failed) optical device.
Hi, thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the disc is physicall stuck and held in place. I have tried several methods including trying to pull the disc out with tweezers, but it will not budge. I have now bought an external CD writer but the stuck disc keeps on trying to eject and slows start up. I would therefore like to disable the drive using unix? if possible? and not use it at all rather than dismantle my imac and physically remove the drive.
The sequence cited usually works, though if the drive mechanism is sufficiently damaged...
The console firmware will attempt to access the device; there's more than OS X involved here — I've not encountered any discussions of disabling EFI access to the device, other than potentially via locking down the bootstrap and preventing alternate access; a firmware password.
Physical disassembly is the usual path forward here, either by Apple or another service provider, or by somebody else when the iMac is sufficiently far out of warranty.
I have a repair man quote a lot of money to disable the drive without removal. He quoted even more to remove and replace with a new drive. I thought there might be some unix commands but I can't find them. It looks like I'll have to put up with it as the cost does not warrant a physical disconnection. I'll have to start saving soon for a new machine, mine is a 2007 imac and deemd 'vintage' by apple, que serra
Hello
If you do google search using such keywords as -
imac eject stuckyou'll find some videos to demonstrate procedure to eject disc mechanically, such as -
Eject a stuck disc from an intel iMac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfh8wlhN5s
How to eject a CD stuck in an iMac superdrive with a small card
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7NYW9Dr448
Good luck,
H
HI Hiroto,
Many thanks for you youtube link.
I tried to eject using this method but the disc is well and truly STUCK.
I will have to put up with it I'm afraid. I cannot afford the high repair costs at this moment.
Ken
Have you tried going to System Preferences CD&DVD and setting all the actions to Ignore?
There are reported ways to disable the DVD drive by removing the kext file(s) that deal with the DVD. I cannot vouch for any of these as I have not tried them myself
How to Disable the Superdrive on a MacBook Pro | eHow is the easiest, moves one file.
I the above simple solution doesn;t work there is this
How to disable an optical drive - Mac OS X Hints
there re other. Proceed carefully and make a backup of the system before doing these.
regards
I don't know what you consider a 'lot' of money, but opening and extracting an optical drive from an iMac is not a difficult or time-consuming job. it takes a couple of specialized tools that you can pick up on eBay for maybe $20, along with a new PATA superdrive for maybe $40-50, but the job itself is more anxiety-inducing than hard. If you have a niece or nephew with the geek bug, give them the parts and set them loose on it. They'll do it out of sheer curiosity.
There is always the low-tech solution, too: white duct tape over the drive opening. unless the aesthetics of your 8 year old iMac are mission critical... 😉
£140 UK which is about $170 ish? I think ear plugs would be better than the tape, it's not the aestetics it's the constant whir of the stuck disc trying to free itself 🙂
Thanks to evryone for their suggestions, I've tried them all (apart from the duct tape) and it's still stuck!!!
regards
I have the exact same problem. Got myself an external but the repeated wheezing and a loud grating noise that occurs every 5 mins or so is driving me mad
I'm on an iMac Mid 2011.
Anyone successful in just opening up their iMac and removing the drive? or any unix code to disable power to it?
thatmattdude wrote:
I have the exact same problem. Got myself an external but the repeated wheezing and a loud grating noise that occurs every 5 mins or so is driving me mad
I'm on an iMac Mid 2011.
Anyone successful in just opening up their iMac and removing the drive? or any unix code to disable power to it?
There are directions on iMac disassembly, repair and replacement posted around the 'net, if you're so inclined. A DuckDuckGo web search for /imac 2011 dvd repair/ turned up some instructions.
If you don't want to disassemble the iMac yourself – parts can potentially break during disassembly, after all — then most local repair services will likely be willing to disconnect the drive power for less than the cost of a repair, not that DVD drives are all that expensive these days and particularly not once you have the iMac opened up.
I'm not aware of a command or a sequence that can disable the detection and configuration of the internal DVD device — well, not short of disabling all USB DVD drives connected, and I'd not recommend that path.
Have you looked at this?
Archived - iMac (Slot Loading): Troubleshooting CD/DVD Eject Failures
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2285?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
If you do decide to physically diconnect the drive, iFixit has nice guides: http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iMac_Intel
Hi Tony,
Looks a bit too involved for me I'm afraid.
Hello
But disabling those kexts will disable ability to use external disc drive as well, which may be another problem...
Regards,
H
How can I disable my dvd drive?
