I've been having problems with the optical drive on my G5 Quad for the last few months. It makes a clanking noise every few minutes, similar to the sound it makes when you put in a cd. Also, every now and then when I put in a cd it just doesn't read it, and it makes itunes crash. The drive is an LG HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4165B. I have read lots of bad things about this drive on the internet, and it also happens to be much slower at importing dvds than the pioneer drives that are (or were) also shipping with some G5s.
I finally went down to my apple store, in The Netherlands. I explained the problem to the tech guy, and he said they would replace it under warranty. However, when I asked if it was possible to get a pioneer drive, he said they had no control over which brand they receive on replacement parts, but that almost always they get pioneers.
Well, I took it in and they replaced the drive. They refused to do a test on it though, arguing that they were fixing another G5 and wouldn't be able to hear the noises I was complaining about (there was also a strange noise coming form one of the fans). The guy suggested that I brought it back some other time, and said he was absolutely sure he wouldn't find anything (turns out these guys also happen to be clairvoyants, or so they seem to think!)
Coming from America I find it really hard to believe how rude and stupid the apple people can be at this store in The Hague, but unfortunately I can't avoid having to deal with them while I live here (there are endless horror stories about this particular shop). I don't have a car, so I had to take a cab there and back, which ran to about 20, plus all the trouble and the wasted time. But sure, why not just bring it again some other time like the guy said?
When I got home I discovered that the drive was another LG (exact same model), and it is still making the same freaking noises! It's driving me crazy!
I looked up the prices for drives on the internet, an they are really cheap: $55 for the pioneer dvr 100, and about $36 for the LG. I already spent almost as much on the cab alone! So now I am thinking I should probably just buy the pioneer and install it myself, and hopefully that would fix the problem. The noise is definitely coming from the optical drive. I would gladly pay $50 to stop that insane noise, especially considering that I got this computer for sound editing and computer music applications.
But I'm left to wonder: why the hell does apple have to put such a crappy drive on their flagship desktop computer? Surely they can do better than this! They save a few dollars by using LG instead of pioneer, and turn a great computer into a pain in the neck!
I finally went down to my apple store, in The Netherlands. I explained the problem to the tech guy, and he said they would replace it under warranty. However, when I asked if it was possible to get a pioneer drive, he said they had no control over which brand they receive on replacement parts, but that almost always they get pioneers.
Well, I took it in and they replaced the drive. They refused to do a test on it though, arguing that they were fixing another G5 and wouldn't be able to hear the noises I was complaining about (there was also a strange noise coming form one of the fans). The guy suggested that I brought it back some other time, and said he was absolutely sure he wouldn't find anything (turns out these guys also happen to be clairvoyants, or so they seem to think!)
Coming from America I find it really hard to believe how rude and stupid the apple people can be at this store in The Hague, but unfortunately I can't avoid having to deal with them while I live here (there are endless horror stories about this particular shop). I don't have a car, so I had to take a cab there and back, which ran to about 20, plus all the trouble and the wasted time. But sure, why not just bring it again some other time like the guy said? When I got home I discovered that the drive was another LG (exact same model), and it is still making the same freaking noises! It's driving me crazy!
I looked up the prices for drives on the internet, an they are really cheap: $55 for the pioneer dvr 100, and about $36 for the LG. I already spent almost as much on the cab alone! So now I am thinking I should probably just buy the pioneer and install it myself, and hopefully that would fix the problem. The noise is definitely coming from the optical drive. I would gladly pay $50 to stop that insane noise, especially considering that I got this computer for sound editing and computer music applications.
But I'm left to wonder: why the hell does apple have to put such a crappy drive on their flagship desktop computer? Surely they can do better than this! They save a few dollars by using LG instead of pioneer, and turn a great computer into a pain in the neck!
