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What is an "optical drive" and what does it do?

My iMac is going back into the shop (an authorized Apple dealer) for the fourth time during the past six weeks.

This time, they feel a new optical drive will fix the problem.

A nightmare of problems...all starting when I took my perfectly working machine for a RAM upgrade from 256 MB to 2 GB, a routine procedure that would take no more than one hour to accomplish I was told. (The machine "is" capable of supporting 2 GB).

Now, six weeks later.......including the RAM upgrade, 2 ⚠ new logic boards, some kind of cable for the CD drawer, who knows what else......a new optical drive.

During all of this, problems from their work have included "kernel panics," frozen screens, corrupted display, application programs refusing to open, or suddenly quitting, inability to burn CDs from iTunes, CD drawer refusing to open, inability to import tunes to iTunes, "sleep mode" refusing to wake up, and more than I can remember right now.

The fact is, I brought in a machine that never had a problem and they broke it. Right now my questions for them will be: Can all of this really fixed? And can "they" fix it.

So, before it goes back for the fourth time, any comments, thoughts, suggestions any of you might have would be greatly appreciated. Starting with: why a new optical drive?

Thank you

iMac, Mac OS X (10.3.9), 1 GHz PowerPC G4, 2 GB RAM

Posted on Apr 2, 2007 4:56 PM

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Posted on Apr 2, 2007 6:07 PM

An optical drive is a drive which is capable of reading CDs or DVDs; most currently available drives also include the ability to burn one or more of CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, and dual layer recordable DVDs.

(20735)
4 replies

Apr 5, 2007 10:29 AM in response to nemateoz

Is yours the 15-inch model or the 17-inch?

According to the specifications on the 17-inch 1 GB model, only 1 GB of RAM is supported:
http://support.apple.com/specs/imac/iMac17-inch1Ghz.html

Likewise, the 15-inch 1 GB model is only supposed to support 1 GB of RAM:
http://support.apple.com/specs/imac/iMacUSB_20.html

It would seem that 2 GB of RAM is unsupported in your model. That may be what is causing the problem.

Apr 5, 2007 12:22 PM in response to Ronda Wilson

It would seem that 2 GB of RAM is unsupported in your model. That may be what is causing the problem.


Apple's RAM specifications are based on the largest compatible RAM module available as of the time the computer was released. They are not updated when higher capacity modules become available, and should not be considered when determining what the actual maximum for an older Mac is; the actual limit is 1.5GB for a 17-inch 1GHz iMac G4, and 2.0GB for newer iMac G4s. Some machines have the maximum RAM limited in firmware.

It's more likely that one of the RAM modules may not be working properly, and it should be replaced with another one.

(20785)

What is an "optical drive" and what does it do?

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