Q: Macbook 13" Mid 2007 - White Screen Startup Error
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Jan 25, 2016 1:47 AMby K Shaffer,To remove the DVD disc media from the optical drive, try the ideas presented here:
• The Ultimate Guide to Ejecting a Stuck Disk from a Mac SuperDrive:
Not so helpful:
• Get help with the slot-loading SuperDrive on your Mac computer - Apple Support
Other ideas mirror some aspects suggested online, such as using thin cardboard and gravity to
remove the disc from the optical drive. The idea here has been stated several places online:
http://www.silvermac.com/2014/12/26/dvd-stuck-in-macbook-pro/
You may need to consider an iFixit guide for your model computer to see how to
remove the optical drive (among other topics) to attempt to restore functionality.
• MacBook 'CoreDuo' Repair Guide: (early model 2006/2007; not core2duo)
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Core_Duo
Good luck!
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Jan 25, 2016 8:24 PMby Geotrax,HelpfulThank you, K Shaffer. Your silvermac trick for putting a credit card / slim cardboard object into the disc drive to stop the disk, almost worked. I was super excited to hear the disc elect sound, until I heard the disc inject sound too. The optical drive tries to eject the disc, but isn't able to. Any Suggestions?
-Geotrax
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Jan 26, 2016 1:05 AMby K Shaffer,There are a few other ideas on the macyourself.com site page linked above, where
another plan is to put some gaffers tape on a thin plastic or stiff thin cardboard that
should be thin enough to go into the optical drive slot and stick to the media disc to
then be able to get it out due to the adhesion of the tape; with other part as handle.
Maybe even an old expired debit card, so it won't matter what happens to it.
Been a few years since an optical drive of mine refused to eject a media disc; one
that someone had given me, had a stick on label for use with inkjet printer; the
extra thickness of the label on the disc media disallowed the disc's ejection. So I
used tape on a thin stiff piece of plastic; + made sure the bad label came out too.
At this point, I don't use disc media DVD or CD anymore; the superdrive model Macs
have several failures (two iMac G4) and two portable Macs have good combo drives.
Used to save images from my DSLR and compact Lumix to DVD media; now just
to external hard drives and to camera media cards, as archives. When I take any.
Not sure what else to try; the most difficult would be to remove the optical drive to get
the media disc out, especially if you do not have a replacement optical drive and a
new cable, plus a certain degree of care and skill to avoid damages to the MacBook.
So, at this point, 12AM local time, my suggestion if available would be to see if an
AASP or Apple Store genius has ideas on removing the disc; and estimates to get
optical drive replaced would likely be from an independent service, not Apple Store.
The iFixit guide and a source such as macsales or powerbookmedic be OK for parts.
The other issue(s) can be addressed once you get the optical drive issue resolved.
There is a chance the internal hard drive may have a relationship to the problem.
Good luck & happy trails with your MacBook, or perhaps a replacement?
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Jan 26, 2016 4:36 PMby Geotrax,Okay, so I have good news, and I have more bad news. The good news is that I tried removing the hard drive, and that's what was making the clicking sound. Then the MacBook stopped trying to boot off it. Therefore, the mouse button trick now works! I booted up, while holding down the mouse button, and i heard the eject sound. But here's the problem, the disk didn't eject. It makes the disk eject sound, nothing comes out, them makes the disk inserted sound. Any ideas? Oh and one last thing, I had Lubuntu on that disk, and since it was the only bootable thing, (the hard drive was shot and and got removed) it booted! Horray! But still can't eject it... Dang it..
-geotrax
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Aug 1, 2016 2:25 PMby Geotrax,If anyone wants a summary of what happened after all of this, or still care whet so ever here you go:
At first, I replaced the original FAILING 120 or 160 GB HDD in my Mid-2007 Core 2 Duo (Yes, i know i said it was a CoreDuo before, but i just recently found out via the About This Mac page its a Core 2 Duo) with a brand new 500GB HDD from Fry's. The endless clicking and blank white screen annoyed me. And as I have said before, I would not boot off anythingFinally, I decided to just remove the HDD and see what would happen. Then, finally, it had a ? screen instead of blank white. Success! Yeah no. After doing some tests previously, I had gotten a lubuntu CD stuck in the drive, because i couldn't get the macbook to eject it. Then, because it wouldn't boot, I thought all hope was lost. So, rather idiotically, I decided to TAKE APART the MacBook to get the CD out. Which didn't work. And now when I do press eject, it won't. It'll make the eject sound, and think it's gone. But then it makes the inject sound, and recognizes the CD again. I decide to give up for now.
--- 4 Months Later ---
My friend's dad works for Recology, and he'll always pick up a laptop and bring it home if he sees one. He found a HP something-or-other netbook from 2008, which had a SATA HDD, just like the MacBook. He was planning to throw out the laptop anyway, so I asked if I could salvage the HDD. He said yes. And just like that, I now have a working MacBook, with a 250GB SATA HDD in it. Finally! Oh, and I said it had 2GB of RAM before... It has 4GB DDR2. The weird thing is according to Apple, The Mid-2007 MacBook Core 2 Duo only supports 2 GB of DDR2 RAM... 0_o
Thanks for all the help everyone!
-Geotrax
