Apple external optical drive won't mount or play DVDs or CDs

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Apple external optical drive won't mount or play DVDs or CDs

I have a 27" late 2013 iMac, 3.5 GHz Core i7 with 32 GB RAM and El Capitan installed. The Apple external optical drive will accept DVDs and CDs but will not mount the disk on the desktop nor will it play them. It sounds like it's scanning the disk but then simply stops. Launching DVD player results in the alert "There was an initialization error - a valid device could not be found for playback". The drive shows up in Disk Utility. The drive sounds like it's scanning when I select "Mount" in disk utility but the disk doesn't mount. It's possible to eject a DVD or CD from the drive using the eject tab in the Disk Utility sidebar. If I shut down the computer and bring it back up I can hear the drive scanning the disk but then nothing further happens. I've tried resetting the SMS and PRAM with no results. The drive is connected directly to the computer, not through a USB hub, and I've tried several of the computer's built-in USB ports, all to no avail. I've selected "Open DVD Player" in the System Preferences/CDs & DVDs. The drive is a year old but I suspect it's a software problem with the iMac rather than the mechanics or optics of the drive. This one's got me baffled.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10), 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM

Posted on Oct 20, 2015 5:15 AM

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Answer 1

Jason L

Community Specialist

Oct 20, 2015 2:58 PM in response to Avsim62

Howdy Avsim62,

If I understand correctly, optical discs aren't recognized in the Apple USB SuperDrive that's connected to your iMac. The article below provides a lot of great information and troubleshooting tips that will resolve most issues like this one.

Get help with the slot-loading SuperDrive on your Mac computer - Apple Support

Ciao.

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Answer 2

Avsim62 Author

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Oct 20, 2015 9:15 PM in response to Jason L

Thanks for the feedback Jason L,

I had viewed the article you referenced before I posted and tried the troubleshooting procedures. Good information but wasn't able to resolve the issue. The drive will recognise a blank DVD or CD and I can burn data/video/photos/music to the blank disk. Re-inserting the newly-formatted disk, the drive will mount the disk to the desktop and will play back any data. I was able to play commercial and self-generated DVDs, CDs, and software DVDs up until a couple of days ago. Since then, though, the computer will only recognise media formatted by my iMac as of the last day or two. Anything else, even stuff I formatted myself a few weeks ago, doesn't show up as media, either on the desktop or in Disk Utility.

- Allen

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Answer 3

Jason L

Community Specialist

Oct 21, 2015 6:19 AM in response to Avsim62

Thank you for using the Apple Support Communities, Allen. Due to the nature of the issue with your device, you may find more information by using another one of the Apple support resources provided here: https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

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Answer 4

Avsim62 Author

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Oct 21, 2015 8:58 PM in response to Jason L

Thanks Jason L,

Apple Support didn't have any answers. I'm guessing that a .kext file had somehow been corrupted and that updating to the newest El Capitan would perhaps reset everything. It did. I'm back in business.

- Allen

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