heyjude104

Q: El Capitan suddenly not recognizing optical drive

I have a MacBook Air running El Capitan, purchased 3/2016. I purchased the optical drive at the same time I purchased the computer. I have been using the external drive to burn DVD's and CD's. All worked well until I plugged the optical drive in yesterday. I opened iTunes, plugged in the drive, inserted a cd, and the window showing I had inserted the cd never popped up. The finder doesn't show the drive, even though I have checked in preferences for it to show. The only way I could safely eject the cd was by going to disk utility where I could see the drive and the cd, and eject it.

 

I checked to make sure that the drive still operates by inserting both a DVD or CD on the optical drive. Both will play properly, but still have to return to the disk utility in order to eject them since the drive doesn't show up anywhere else.

 

With iTunes running, and the drive plugged in with a blank CD inserted, the "Burn playlist to disk" is grayed out, since the computer isn't recognizing the drive.

 

What can I do to get the computer/El Capitan to recognize the drive again?

MBA, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 5:54 AM

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Q: El Capitan suddenly not recognizing optical drive

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  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 8, 2016 5:59 AM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 8, 2016 5:59 AM in response to heyjude104

    Does System Report show the Optical drive? Try the following Terminal commands after connecting the Optical drive...

     

    drutil discinfo

    Vendor   Product           Rev

    MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-8A8    HB14

     

      Please insert a disc to get disc info.

     

    drutil list

       Vendor   Product           Rev   Bus       SupportLevel

    1  MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-8A8    HB14  ATAPI     Apple Shipping

     

    drutil info

    Vendor   Product           Rev

    MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-8A8    HB14

     

       Interconnect: ATAPI

       SupportLevel: Apple Shipping

              Cache: 1024k

           CD-Write: -R, -RW, BUFE, CDText, Test, IndexPts, ISRC

          DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW, BUFE, Test

         Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

     

     

    With a disc in the drive, try drutil eject.

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 8, 2016 6:06 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 8, 2016 6:06 AM in response to Loner T

    Screen Shot 2016-08-08 at 7.04.03 AM.pngI

    I'm not sure what all I am looking at with this information, but I can see that it says that the the drive is "unsupported." Is that the problem?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 8, 2016 6:13 AM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 8, 2016 6:13 AM in response to heyjude104

    Can you eject a disc using drutil eject?

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 8, 2016 6:14 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 8, 2016 6:14 AM in response to Loner T

    Yes, I was able to eject the disc using drutil eject.

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 8, 2016 6:35 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 8, 2016 6:35 AM in response to Loner T

    Any suggestions on getting my computer/El Capitan to recognize the drive again?

  • by Courcoul,

    Courcoul Aug 8, 2016 7:13 AM in response to heyjude104
    Level 6 (14,193 points)
    Aug 8, 2016 7:13 AM in response to heyjude104

    Sometimes the software gets mixed up with what the hardware is or is doing. Try an NVRAM/PRAM Reset and see if that fixes the issue. While you're at it and/or if that doesn't help, might want to do an SMC Reset as well.

     

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

    Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 9, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Courcoul
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 9, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Courcoul

    I have done the NVRAM/PRAM Reset and the SMC Reset and the problem still exists. Any other suggestions?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 9, 2016 7:15 PM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 9, 2016 7:15 PM in response to heyjude104

    Exit iTunes. Insert an Audio CD. Does it play? Test the same with a video DVD. If both play properly, then your issue is related to iTunes. You can also test burning a CD using Disk Utility, without iTunes.

     

    If these work, do you have any third-party software on your Mac that can interfere with the CD burning capability should be looked at.

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 9, 2016 8:22 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 9, 2016 8:22 PM in response to Loner T

    I am able to play both an audio CD, and a DVD properly.

     

    The instructions I found for burning a DVD using Disk Utility say

    1. Select the disk image in the sidebar, then click Burn in the toolbar.

    2. Insert a recordable CD or DVD disc into the optical drive, then follow onscreen instructions."

     

    In order  for me to see the optical drive in Disk Utility I must already have a disc in the drive, and I see no options for "Burn" in the toolbar. So I don't know if I can burn one or not.

     

    The most recently added software was iSkysoft DVD creator, which I have used, and I had also successfully burned audio CD's using iTunes since using that software.

     

    Even though I was able to burn audio CD's using iTunes since installing the iSkysoft program, could it still be causing the current problem? I don't mind installing it if it is the likely culprit.

     

    Thanks for your continuing help.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 9, 2016 8:37 PM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 9, 2016 8:37 PM in response to heyjude104

    The iSkysoft and other built-in recording tools are now racing to control the writing of optical media. The winner controls it. If you were able to burn CDs in the past via iTunes, it won the race in those specific instances.

     

    Check System Preferences -> CDs and DVDs and see how they are set.

     

    OSX-CD-DVD-Preferences.png

     

    Set them properly as you need them to be, and test. If you see iSkySoft in these as defaults, then change them as appropriate.

     

    If that does not work, uninstall iSkySoft and check these settings again, and then test iTunes.

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 9, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 9, 2016 9:24 PM in response to Loner T

    I checked the preferences and they were set similar to the above sample, iSkysoft was not showing as the default.

     

    I uninstalled iSkysoft, restarted the computer, checked the settings again, and checked iTunes to see if I would be able to burn a CD. The "Burn playlist to disc" is still greyed out.  

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 10, 2016 4:40 AM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 10, 2016 4:40 AM in response to heyjude104

    Can you test the Disk Utility burn function? Also, third-party uninstallers are notorious for leaving 'unwanted' stuff behind. You may need to re-install OS X (which does not modify non-OSX files) to get a clean setup and then test.

  • by heyjude104,

    heyjude104 heyjude104 Aug 10, 2016 8:09 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Aug 10, 2016 8:09 AM in response to Loner T

    I've been unable to test the Disk Utility burn function, I'm unable to see the mounted disc in the Finder in order to drag the files to it. The only place I can see that the drive/disc is mounted is in Disk Utility, and no options for burning from there.

    I can also see the optical drive in the "System Report" under "Hardware" when I go there through "About This Mac."

     

    Is re-installing OS X my only option now?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 10, 2016 8:18 AM in response to heyjude104
    Level 7 (23,613 points)
    Safari
    Aug 10, 2016 8:18 AM in response to heyjude104

    You will waste  physical DVD with this test. Please download a 64-bit only ISO from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/ and use DU to burn it to a physical DVD.

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