Power Mac G4 Dual 800 Optical Drive stuck?

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Level 1

59 points

Power Mac G4 Dual 800 Optical Drive stuck?

I picked up this Dual 800 Mac G4. The bezel/door of the optical drive says "Super Drive" on it. However, this door/bezel won't open. It seems stuck (too large) to open out against its opening. I have no idea how the drive is supposed to open (out , I assume). The inside shows its got plastic hinge/joints to open out, I think , but again, it seems behind the face plate opening, so I tried to open the door to make it come out to the front faceplate, but it's too hard.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Dec 4, 2016 2:01 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 5, 2016 1:13 PM in response to be236

Try holding the mouse button down on startup.

Does the G4 boot at all?

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Answer 2

be236 Author

Level 1

59 points

Dec 5, 2016 1:19 PM in response to BDAqua

The problem is not the DVD/optical drive tray doesn't eject (it does when I take it out of the casing and push the eject button).. the problem is the Power Mac G4 door that flips out (I assume the drop swings out and down?).. that door is stuck behind the face plate.. so it's a physical problem...

And yes, the Mac boots up fine to Mac OS X 10.4... but it's funny the Eject icon on the Finder window is greyed out and pushing Eject key on the Mac keyboard doesnt do anything or show the "eject" picture that I have seen with other Macs.

System Profile shows the DVD drive though...

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Answer 3

Jeff

Level 6

12,328 points

Dec 7, 2016 11:12 AM in response to be236

The drive was undoubtedly replaced with a non-OEM brand, causing two problems. The faceplate on the front of the drive's tray is too large to clear the oval opening in the front bezel and the drive's ROM code doesn't respond to the eject command. Solving the first problem is simple enough - you need to pop off the faceplate on the leading edge of the tray. Typically, they slide down from the top and snap-lock in place. Flex it out in the center along its bottom edge and the plastic catches should clear to enable removal by sliding upward. The second problem will only be corrected by replacement of the drive with a Mac-friendly brand. Some years back, we always recommended the Pioneer DVD burners because of their reliable performance in Macs. You need an older "PATA" (parallel ATA) drive, not a SATA (serial ATA) optical drive. The former are getting more difficult to find now, but if you check eBay, you may be able to find one that's new or new-in-box. The optical drive is mounted in a carrier that's secured to the chassis with (4) machine screws. Disconnect the cables connected to the back of the drive and slide the carrier back a little and lift away from the chassis. Remove the old drive from the carrier. Set the replacement drive's configuration jumper to "Master" (not "CS"), install the drive in the carrier, secure the carrier to the chassis, and reconnect the cables. It's sometimes easier to connect the cables to the back of the drive, before securing the carrier to the chassis. Other World Computing (www.macsales.com) has helpful installation videos on their website.

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Answer 4

Dec 14, 2016 6:26 AM in response to be236

I think I had a similar problem with my G4's optical drive. It was slightly misaligned so it would not open when ejecting a disc. I found that briefly pressing the door immediately after pressing the eject button helped. Not as good as a proper alignment as outlined in Jeff's post but a lot easier given I only used the drive once a month.

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Answer 5

be236 Author

Level 1

59 points

Dec 19, 2016 6:51 PM in response to Jeff

Ok, seems I am not explaining myself well of the situation.

The problem is NOT the DVD-ROM drive itself. I took the drive out already out of the case.

The problem is that the original lid door (it says "Super Drive" on it) of the optical drive is behind the front panel of the Mac itself. And this lid door seems too big to open out. From the inside, I could use my fingers to try to push or flip the lid door out, but it is blocked. So I don't know how the door could ever open out or in...

Maybe I should take a picture and post so you can better understand my issue?

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 20, 2016 8:37 AM in response to be236

Was about to suggest a pic! 🙂

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Answer 7

be236 Author

Level 1

59 points

Dec 27, 2016 12:07 PM in response to BDAqua

Ok, here are the pictures. You can see the front panel, you might see the "door" is just inside the opening, so it wont come "out."

The inside pictures, you can see the two hinges at the bottom, and you can see my figure try to push the door out, but the door is inside the opening and is too big to be pushed out... it think that door should be on the outside, but don't know how it go "inside."

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 28, 2016 12:53 AM in response to be236

Hmmm, normally the door pivots down as the drive sled pushes on the curve.🙂

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