maryannfromlisheen

Q: Upgraded to el capitan and hoping DVD player would work properly but no, still not playing some of my DVDs. Is there an upgrade available? my library of playable DVDs is shrinking

Upgraded to el capitan and hoping DVD player would work properly but no, still not playing some of my DVDs. Is there an upgrade available? my library of playable DVDs is shrinking. Imac originally purchased in 2010. DVD 5.9.5

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 17, 2016 9:19 AM

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Q: Upgraded to el capitan and hoping DVD player would work properly but no, still not playing some of my DVDs. Is there an upgrade av ... more

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Jun 17, 2016 9:24 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 9 (53,457 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 17, 2016 9:24 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    I am having no problems with my DVDs.

     

    Could you provide more details about the ones that are no working?

  • by Phil0124,

    Phil0124 Phil0124 Jun 17, 2016 9:31 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 7 (26,872 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 17, 2016 9:31 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    Are you getting an error when trying to play your DVDs?  If so, what is it exactly?

     

    Are these commercial movie DVDs?  Ot your personal family video DVDs?

     

    Are you by any chance trying to play Blu-Ray movies?

     

    We need a lot more details regarding your issue to be able to help.

  • by maryannfromlisheen,

    maryannfromlisheen maryannfromlisheen Jun 17, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 17, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    These are commercial DVDs bought local area shops here in Ireland. Regular, not blue ray. One was a romantic comedy box with 5 DVDs that never would play. Once upon a time n the West worked fine until I upgraded, now it just gets ejected. I've bought some older one's from charity shops, some that were given away as promotional fro newspapers, and they generally work ok. Do you need more info?

  • by maryannfromlisheen,

    maryannfromlisheen maryannfromlisheen Jun 17, 2016 9:39 AM in response to Phil0124
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 17, 2016 9:39 AM in response to Phil0124

    These are commercial DVDs bought local area shops here in Ireland. Regular, not blue ray. One was a romantic comedy box with 5 DVDs that never would play. 'Once upon a time n the West' worked fine until I upgraded, now it just gets ejected. I've bought some older one's from charity shops, some that were originally given away as promotion for newspapers  and they generally worked ok but I just tried one and same thing. Ejection!

  • by maryannfromlisheen,

    maryannfromlisheen maryannfromlisheen Jun 17, 2016 10:02 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 17, 2016 10:02 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    No error message, just disc spinning and spinning then being ejected

  • by Phil0124,

    Phil0124 Phil0124 Jun 17, 2016 10:36 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 7 (26,872 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 17, 2016 10:36 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    It's possible the optical reader in the drive is dirty or failing.

     

    2 choices,

    1. if one is available, try an external or regular DVD drive. To rule out any specific issues with  the DVD's themselves. Sometimes DVD's are faulty and cannot be read.

    2. Take the iMac to an Apple Store for diagnosis.  It may be hardware fault in the optical drive.

     

    Updating to El Capitan should have no effect on the Drive's ability to read a DVD. If its ejecting it without being recognized, it has not had a chance for El Capitan to have anything to do with it yet.

  • by Allan Jones,Helpful

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Jun 29, 2016 3:06 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 8 (35,039 points)
    iPad
    Jun 29, 2016 3:06 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    As a long shot here, have you tried cleaning the DVD drive?

     

    Slot-loading drives can get quite dirty and start to show symptoms of failure. Any computer shop, home electronics store, or office supplies store that sells computer accessories should be able to supply you with a drive cleaning disk for probably €4-15 before VAT. They are simple to use-simply insert the cleaning disk as if it were a regular disk and it will run automaticaly, removing most debris that can find a cozy home in your drive slot.

     

    A friend had a slot-load drive in a Mac notebook that started to fail. An Apple Authorized Service Provider checked it and proclaimed the drive had shuffled off this mortal coil and would have to be replaced at a cost of over US$150. I loaned my firend my cleaning disk and, after one use, the drive resumed fully normally operation and was still working fine when he sold the comptuer several year later.

     

    So it's worth a try.

  • by MichelPM,Helpful

    MichelPM MichelPM Jun 29, 2016 3:04 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen
    Level 6 (13,653 points)
    iPad
    Jun 29, 2016 3:04 AM in response to maryannfromlisheen

    You could have a dirty optical drive where the read/write laser lenses could have accumulated some dust and dirt.

     

    Could try purchasing and using a commercial retail dry brush CD/DVD laser lens cleaning system disc.

    These lens cleaning discs can revive a malfunctioning or failing optical drive.

     

    Also, could try powering down and unplugging your iMac and take a credit card completely

    covered in a microfibre cloth and stick it into the CD slot and then pull it out and see if any dirt

    comes out and onto the cloth.

    Wipe the loose dirt off of the cloth and reinsert the cloth into the CD/DVD slot, again, clearing

    the dust and dirt off of the microfibre cloth each time before reinserting the cloth/credit card

    until no more dust/dirt/lint comes out of the CD/DVD slot and no more dust/dirt/lint appears

    on the microfibre cloth.

    Once no more dust, dirt or lint comes off onto the cloth, re-setup your iMac, plug it back into power and start it up to see the optical drive is working more consistently.

    Some times cleaning out the accumulated dust and dirt inside a CD/DVD optical drive is enough to revive its operation.

     

    Good Luck!