why won't the superdrive read my dvds or cds

This article allowed me to have the superdrive accept the disk (dvd), and I can hear the music, but I can NOT see the picture. I have an iMac 21.5, Late 2015.

The superdrive wouldn't work initially. I plugged it in and then restarted the computer. Then the SuperDrive was recognized, and allowed the acceptance of the DVD, via DVD Player, but the DVD player "buttons" are no responsive, and I'm getting NO picture.

Hello drewras,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

You can use this article to troubleshoot the problem with your SuperDrive.

Apple Computers: Troubleshooting the slot-loading SuperDrive

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801

Regards,

Jeff D.

Hello drewras,

The troubleshooting in that article will also apply to the internal SuperDrive installed in your MacBook Pro. Obviously, some of the things specific to the external SuperDrive, like making sure it isn't upside down and connecting it to the USB port will not apply, but the troubleshooting under "specific troubleshooting" would still apply to your SuperDrive.

If you go through the steps in the subsection of troubleshooting and it still isn't working, notice that the last step, if it is still not working is to "contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store."

Regards,

Jeff D.

This solved it for me (after trying e v e r y t h i n g including giving up...):

After installing Mavericks my dvd player quit working

See my post at the bottom of page 4! Best of luck!

SUGGESTION FOR INTERNAL SUPERDRIVE

This might help. If you haven't done so yet, try installing Apple's SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, which is on Apple's support site at http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201953 to see if that resolves it. Although it's not specifically for that problem, the firmware update seems to be important for making external SuperDrives work in Yosemite, and it is one step I used to get my SuperDrive to work in a USB external case when plugged into my MacBook Pro.
---

External SuperDrive DVD player fix - RESOLVED!

This solution worked for my Superdrive, which I had installed in a USB external case, so now it can play movies using Apples DVD Player App, but additional steps may be needed, as I outline below. I had removed the SuperDrive from my mid-2009 Macbook Pro 15" 2.53 ghz to install a second hard drive with Other World Computing's "Data Doubler" adapter, and mounted the SuperDrive in an OWC Value Line SuperSlim external case.

I don't know if the first two steps below are necessary, but I had done them first, because others suggested them as fixes before I found the solution in the 3rd step.

1) I installed Apple's SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, which is on Apple's support site at http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201953 (Note: I had already done this step before removing my SuperDrive, which worked fine as in internal drive in Yosemite. However, when I first used the SuperDrive after installing it in an external case, it worked fine for data DVDs, but not for playing movies with Apples DVD Player.)

2) Then I applied a fix on this page, http://www.hardturm.ch/luz/2011/10/how-to-make-the-macbook-air-superdrive-work-w ith-any-mac/comment-page-12/#comment-106449, using Text Wrangler to edit the preference file at /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist by adding code mbasd=1 between the two string values. However, that still did not resolve the problem. I left the preference file with the code “mbasd=1″ included, as outlined on that site.

3) Then, I used the fix at http://macriot.com/mcrt/?p=2294 which requires modification of some code embedded into OS X’s DVDPlayback framework; essentially replacing the words “internal” with “external”

That did it! Now my external Superdrive plays movies using DVD Player. 🙂