DVDs not playing since Yosemite upgrade; some background information

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Lacika2000 Author

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DVDs not playing since Yosemite upgrade; some background information

Hello there!

Since we have upgraded one of the MacBookPro's to Yosemite, it has stopped playing DVDs. Actually, it does not mount them at all, while it plays CD (original and copies) without a problem.

So when inserting a CD, it gets mounted: you can see it in Finder and also appears in the /volumes folder. When you insert a DVD, the drives spins, but the disk does not get mounted, it does not appear in Finder, nor can any program (DVD player, VLC) find it.

I have done the usual rounds of PRAM and SMC resets, without any improvement. I have also used DiskUtility to check/repair permissions as well, no resolution here either.

When I use an external DVD drive on the Yosemite, it generates the same symptoms as well: CDs mount and play, DVD's don't, so I don't think that the drive itself have given up, it is a software issue.

I have checked in DiskUtility the information, and this has provided some revealing clues:

On the laptops where DVDs play normally, DiskUtility says (select the disk and click the blue 'i' info button on the top of the window) that the DVD has a so-called Universal Disk Format (UDF) file format.

Under Yosemite the same DVD has the Windows NT Filesystem G3 file format, it does not mount or play at all...

I suspect that the faulty file system assignment (the failure to recognize the proper DVD format) prevents the mounting and the playback.

Do other people with DVD playback issues see the same?

Does anybody know how to fix this? Is there a way to change some settings to get the proper DVD format recognized by the system?

Or the only option is to send few thousands of emails to Tim Cook to get this fixed? 😉

Let me know...

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jan 4, 2015 5:12 AM

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Answer 1

Lacika2000 Author

Level 1

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Jan 4, 2015 6:03 AM in response to Lacika2000

Some updates to the technically more adept:

1. All commercial DVDs (at least those in house) give the same filetype issue (not recognizing DVD as a DVD, but as a Windows filesystem) in Yosemite.

2. I have also looked at the console error messages (although it does not tell me much, but maybe somebody can decipher it) upon inserting a DVD:

04/01/15 14:54:25,834 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.ReportCrash.Root[1174]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.ReportCrash.DirectoryService

04/01/15 14:54:25,838 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1173 failed, address was 8ff05e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,839 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1173 failed, address was 8ff05e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,840 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1173 failed, address was 8ff05e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,841 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1173 failed, address was 8ff05e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,871 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1179 failed, address was 8fe61e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,872 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1179 failed, address was 8fe61e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,873 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1179 failed, address was 8fe61e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,874 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1179 failed, address was 8fe61e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,898 ReportCrash[1174]: Saved crash report for ntfs-3g.probe[1173] version ??? to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ntfs-3g.probe_2015-01-04-145425_MacBookProFiona -2.crash

04/01/15 14:54:25,899 ReportCrash[1174]: Saved crash report for ntfsls[1179] version ??? to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ntfsls_2015-01-04-145425_MacBookProFiona-2.cras h

04/01/15 14:54:25,904 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1183 failed, address was 8fea3e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,905 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1183 failed, address was 8fea3e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,906 ReportCrash[1174]: Attempt to read info_array in pid 1183 failed, address was 8fea3e80

04/01/15 14:54:25,928 ReportCrash[1174]: Saved crash report for ntfslabel[1183] version ??? to /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ntfslabel_2015-01-04-145425_MacBookProFiona-2.c rash

04/01/15 14:54:26,229 diskarbitrationd[38]: unable to mount /dev/disk2 (status code 0x00000001).

When trying to reproduce it with other DVDs, the pid numbers have changed, but the structure of the error messages is the same. What it means eludes me, but I hope that someone can come up with an answer…

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Answer 2

Jan 4, 2015 7:54 AM in response to Lacika2000

On the Macbook Pro - (which now plays DVDs after I changed a setting and back in system preference/Optical), when I go into disk utility, the superdrive shows up as an EXTERNAL drive(with no disk installed). It should show up as a superdrive! I have a macbook, upgraded to yosemite and it shows up as an internal. The pro is a stock machine, never repaired or modified in any way. Clearly this says that somewhere in yosemite, it does NOT recognize some Apple supplied optical drives as being proper apple supplied hardware. Even though this one works for now, for me, its clearly not right. I'm still left wondering if I upgrade my Mac Pro with superdrive and Blu-ray how many things are going to break.

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Answer 3

Jan 4, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Lacika2000

Laszio...

My problem turned out to be a dead optical drive! It died 3 weeks after the 3-year Applecare Warranty expired!

After hours & hours of many attempted fixes, I bit the bullet & replaced the drive - now everything works OK!

I am running Yosemite 10.10.1 & each of my DVDs show up as Universal Disk Format (UDF).

Am not techie enough to be able to tell you why yours are displayed as Windows Format...sorry!

Also, my newly installed Optical Drive in the MBP shows up in Disk Utility as an Internal SATA SuperDrive.

Hope this helps!

...John

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Answer 4

Lacika2000 Author

Level 1

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Jan 12, 2015 3:59 PM in response to John Bonn

John,

The issue is definitely not a dead optical drive. It reads CDs without any problem, and it sees the DVD as well, but it does not recognize properly the format (it thinks it is a Windows format instead of a DVD). Because of this, it does not mount the DVD, so it cannot play it back either.

This is a software issue that Apple needs to fix, I am afraid.

All the best,

Laszlo

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Answer 5

Jan 12, 2015 4:40 PM in response to Lacika2000

Laszlo...

Wish I was tech-savvy enough to help.

Silly question, but have you tried different DVDs?

Do they work in a Mac Pro or someone else's MBP running Yosemite?

Since I replaced my Optical Drive, the DVDs are read perfectly.

Even Windows-based document systems sent to me in a Windows format DVD run well using Parallels Desktop.

So in my case, the problem was a defective Optical Disk.

Sure hope you figure this out.

Best of luck!

...John

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Answer 6

Lacika2000 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2015 8:55 AM in response to Lacika2000

Some update since I am camping with this issue.

Somebody has suggested to try an external DVD drive instead of the built-in one.

I have tried without success. In fact I have tried to connect the same external drive with a DVD in it to the MBP with the Yosemite update, to another one running on 10.9.5, and a MacMini on 10.8.5. The external drive works perfectly with the non-Yosemite Macs, but when I connect the same drive to the one that was updated to Yosemite, the drive does not mount with DVDs (it still works with CD's).

To me this means that this is clearly a software issue coming from the Yosemite upgrade, not a drive failure or anything else.

Apple, fix this please!!!!

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Answer 7

Eric Root

Level 10

684,609 points

Jan 13, 2015 12:33 PM in response to Lacika2000

Apple doesn’t routinely monitor the discussions. These are mostly user to user discussions.

Send Apple feedback. They won't answer, but at least will know there is a problem. If enough people send feedback, it may get the problem solved sooner.

Feedback

Or you can use your Apple ID to register with this site and go the Apple BugReporter. Supposedly you will get an answer if you submit feedback.

Feedback via Apple Developer

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Answer 8

Feb 5, 2015 8:23 PM in response to Lacika2000

I've had the same issue - with some odd exceptions - and it's really frustrating. For the most part, commercial video DVDs will not play in my 2010 iMac since upgrading to Yosemite. The computer will try to read the discs for 10-15 seconds and then eject them.

However - the computer will read CDs without any issues. And the computer will read and mount software DVDs (Office 2011, Photoshop) with no problems.

And - this is where it gets odd and particularly irritating - the computer will read/mount some commercial foreign language DVDs without any problems, including region 2 DVDs. These have worked for me:

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Region 1, Spanish)

Live Flesh (Region 1, Spanish)

Victims of Sin (Region 1, Spanish)

Place without Limits (Region 1, Spanish)

Susana (Region 1, Spanish)

El (Region 2, Spanish)

Ensayo de un Crimen (Region 2, Spanish)

Afraid to Die (Region 1, Japanese)

Ma Vie en Rose (Region 1, French)

But it won't read/mount all foreign language DVDs. These haven't worked...

8 Women (Region 1, French)

Fox and his Friends (Region 1, German)

Playtime (Region 1, French)

White (Region 1, French/Polish)

Bad Education (Region 1, Spanish)

De Serge Gainsbourg a Gainsbarre 1958-1991 (Region 2, French)

None of this makes sense to me - but it's happening. Just putting it out there in case it can help someone figure out what's going on.

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