kevinfrommanor

Q: Superdrive will not accept discs.

I cannot get my superdrive to accept discs.  It was working fine one day, now it blocks a disc from even entering the bay.  It acts as if there is a disc currently in the drive but there is no disc icon and pushing the eject button does not eject anything.  Tried running diagnostic but was unable to get the diagnostic tool to mount when restarting the computer with the "D" key being held down.  Any other solutions would be appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Dec 30, 2014 7:29 AM

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Q: Superdrive will not accept discs.

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  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Dec 30, 2014 8:26 AM in response to kevinfrommanor
    Level 8 (49,522 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 30, 2014 8:26 AM in response to kevinfrommanor

    There may be an obstruction in the mechanism, in which case disassembly and removal may be your only recourse. Creative ways to remove obstructions exist, if you believe that is the case. Write back for suggestions.


    Open the Terminal app - it is in your Mac's Utilities folder and looks like this

    Screen Shot 2013-02-15 at 2.14.19 PM.png

     

    At the command prompt, type the following, followed by the Return key:

     

    drutil eject

     

    That will force the eject mechanism to cycle once. If it does not succeed in ejecting the disc, press the "up arrow" cursor key to recall that command, and press Return again. Do this as often as necessary to eject the disc, or until you give up.


    To use Apple Hardware Test read Apple Hardware Test. You may be able to invoke the Internet version of AHT by holding option d at startup. Not all Macs are capable of that method. Read Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery - Apple Support and About the "Apple Hardware Test does not support this machine" message - Apple Support.


    Macs that shipped with discs need to run AHT using the disc bearing the label "Apple Hardware Test" or "AHT".

  • by kevinfrommanor,

    kevinfrommanor kevinfrommanor Dec 31, 2014 4:46 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2014 4:46 AM in response to John Galt

    Thanks for the help but it did not work.  Could not get the eject mechanism to cycle through because there is nothing to eject.  No discs or anything.  Could not get this Mac to run the hardware test or diagnostic test either.

    Not sure what else can be done at this point.

  • by kevinfrommanor,

    kevinfrommanor kevinfrommanor Dec 31, 2014 5:21 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2014 5:21 AM in response to John Galt

    This is a MacBook Pro from mid 2009.  Since I cannot seem to eject anything or run the hardware test, my other options are to take it in for repair or get an external superdrive.  I'm assuming that an external will cost less than repairing the unit but not sure if the Apple USB Superdrive will work with this model since on the specs, it seems to be compatible with the MacBook Pro with Retina Display or MacBook Air.

    Is there an external Superdrive that will work with this 13" MacBook Pro from mid 2009?

    Thanks again!

  • by John Galt,Solvedanswer

    John Galt John Galt Dec 31, 2014 10:06 AM in response to kevinfrommanor
    Level 8 (49,522 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 31, 2014 10:06 AM in response to kevinfrommanor

    Could not get the eject mechanism to cycle through because there is nothing to eject.


    The drutil eject command will cause the mechanism to cycle even if there is no disc in the drive, so the fact it's not doing that indicates it's physically broken –– meaning the mechanism is jammed, or the drive is otherwise inoperative. It's not worth trying to fix it without disassembling your MacBook Pro. If you have the motivation to do that though, it's not very difficult and replacement internal drives are cheap.

     

    Is there an external Superdrive that will work with this 13" MacBook Pro from mid 2009?

     

    Yes, and they are very inexpensive. I suggest shopping for one from OWC / MacSales: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/. Even cheaper options exist but they usually get poor reviews.

  • by kevinfrommanor,

    kevinfrommanor kevinfrommanor Dec 31, 2014 3:25 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2014 3:25 PM in response to John Galt

    Thanks for the help!