Anyone elses sliding drive door stick on Mac Pros?

[TheSpaz]

My top SuperDrive door seems to get stuck sometimes. It's a pretty tight fit compared to the drive door on the G5 at work. Anyone else have any problems with the Mac Pro drive doors?

[twoodcc]

My top SuperDrive door seems to get stuck sometimes. It's a pretty tight fit compared to the drive door on the G5 at work. Anyone else have any problems with the Mac Pro drive doors?

i don't think i have a problem with mine. but i don't have a G5 to compare it to though

[MacRumorUser]

Have you replaced the drive at any point ?

You could just try re-seating the drive to see if it has just been mal-aligned.

[chas0001]

My lower sliding door gets stuck sometimes when ejecting on my mac pro. I moved the Superdrive to the bottom so that I could have an additional backup hard drive in the top. Had to have the Superdrive at the bottom cos those cables are way too short!

Never had a problem with my old Powermac G5.

[TheSpaz]

Have you replaced the drive at any point ?

You could just try re-seating the drive to see if it has just been mal-aligned.

Hmm... I have replaced the SuperDrive in my Mac Pro but, I think these doors are actually part of the G5/Mac Pro case and don't even touch the SuperDrive compartment.

[metsnyfan87]

actually, while the sliding door is in fact part of the case, the cause for the slide is actually a cool little design that makes use of the protruding drive tray. if you pull down the sliding door with your fingers you can see that there is a sort of ramp like piece on the back side that allows the extending drive tray slide the door downwards. so your problem actually can be caused by a misaligned drive, which shouldnt be too hard to pick off visually. try lowering the door with your fingers and seeing if the tray comes cleanly right through the center of the opening.

[TheSpaz]

actually, while the sliding door is in fact part of the case, the cause for the slide is actually a cool little design that makes use of the protruding drive tray. if you pull down the sliding door with your fingers you can see that there is a sort of ramp like piece on the back side that allows the extending drive tray slide the door downwards. so your problem actually can be caused by a misaligned drive, which shouldnt be too hard to pick off visually. try lowering the door with your fingers and seeing if the tray comes cleanly right through the center of the opening.

The actual drive tray pushed through the door fine... but, then the sliding door sticks in the open position and won't close again unless I use my fingers to un-wedge it from it's position between the case and the door. So even when the drive tray retracts, the silver door stays open because it's fit too tightly against the Mac Pro case.

Edit: I can open the G5 door with my fingers very easily and it's nice and smooth but, on the Mac Pro, it's very hard to slide that door open with my fingers and I can feel it wedge tighter and tighter as I push it down and it feels like it's just about to stick but, then as I let go, it somehow barley unsticks itself... but, sometimes it does stay stuck and I don't like that.

[flyinmac]

Well, to me it sounds like there is a problem with the "fit" of the door.

It's possible that the space it slides into is somehow tweaked.

Rather than messing with it, I'd just take it to your local service center for warranty repair.

If you don't cause any damage to it, then they should repair it for free. But, if you keep messing with it, they might blame the problem on your tinkering.

That's just my thoughts. Good luck with it.

[decksnap]

I had this problem on my G5 and now on my MacPro. The door won't shut unless I press against the front of the tray. The drive probably needs to move a quarter of a centimeter in some direction.

[flyinmac]

My cat's breath smells like catfood.


You need to feed him dog food. That should fix it. :cool:

[CyberPrey]

I have the same problem.. my upper drive door sticks open at times.

[metsnyfan87]

yeah as long as you didnt pop inside and do anything like messing with hinges or the drive itself if you just pop over to even a genius bar and they can probably fix you up.

[gogojuice]

My upper one sticks also.

Not sure what I can do to fix it... but at least your not alone lol

[ronni3]

Everything is fine here, although when I first installed a Lightscribe Lite-On drive in the 2nd bay I did have this issue, but after swapping it into the 1st bay everything has been superb! :D

[d.cleveland]

Everything is fine here, although when I first installed a Lightscribe Lite-On drive in the 2nd bay I did have this issue, but after swapping it into the 1st bay everything has been superb! :D

Hi Ronni

I had the same problem, with a lite-on drive in the second/lower optical bay. I exchanged the drive thinking it was defective. When I got the new one, I had the same issue. I put the Sony(NEC Flashed drive) on the bottom and moved the lite-on to the top. The Sony drive, now in the lower bay works fine. But the top on is still having the same issue.

Any suggestions how to correct the alignment?

Many Thanks....Don

[TheSpaz]

This excerpt was taken from Apple Discussion Forums:

"I've seen quite a few threads popping up in here with regard to the fact that a great many brand-new Mac Pros suffer from a problem where the door/cover for the upper optical drive does not spring shut after the drive is closed.

Our new Mac Pro suffered from this problem, and with a bit of investigation, I believe I've found a very safe, simple, and completely reliable fix for the issue, so I thought I'd post my solution here in the hopes it will help others.

No bending, pushing, or mangling of any sort is required for this fix; it's really incredibly simple:


• open the case and remove the optical drive caddy. Do this by pulling it straight toward you. A small amount of force might be needed if this is the first time you've done it, but eventually the entire aluminium enclosure which holds the drives should slide out.

• with the drives removed, you'll be able to see the door/cover assembly. Just inside the opening of the case near the opening for the top drive, you'll see a Phillips (star) screw. Loosen this screw just a bit - in my case, all that was needed was about 1/8 of a turn.

• verify that this fixes the sticking problem with the drive door/cover by manually wiggling it up and down.

• tighten the screw to the point where you're not worried it might work itself loose on its own, but not so tight that it causes the door/cover to begin sticking again.

• replace the drive enclosure, close the case up, and you're done!!


I'm guessing they use a powered screw-driver when assembling that part of the case, and that the screw just gets over-tightened in the process, but then again.. who cares how it happens, so long as it can be fixed!?

Hope this helps.."

URL to Apple Forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=696420

For some reason my door stopped sticking and I haven't really had a problem since posting this original message but, I hope this hint that another user came up with works for the rest of you guys! Cool!

[rutlandn]

Old problem for many. I fixed this issue on my Mac Pro by threading a piece of wire through the aluminum mesh between the drive doors and back out again; then pulling on the wire until the mesh had bent outward (unbent, actually) relieving the pressure on the sliding door. Evidently someone had bent the case a bit trying to move the machine or perhaps just accidentally kneed the case.

Three minutes to fix, three hours to figure out the problem.

[dtechlogic]

Actually, you are right. Mine stick the top sliding door. never replace the drive still the original and never move it also.

[nambuccaheadsau]

Some optical drives, most notably pioneer for sure, need to have the little cover on the tray removed as it does tend to catch as described. The cover simply clicks in, and has the brand etc printed on it.


http://www.mysuperpc.com/dvd_rw_change_front_panel_bezel.shtml

[ActionableMango]

Old problem for many. I fixed this issue on my Mac Pro by threading a piece of wire through the aluminum mesh between the drive doors and back out again; then pulling on the wire until the mesh had bent outward (unbent, actually) relieving the pressure on the sliding door. Evidently someone had bent the case a bit trying to move the machine or perhaps just accidentally kneed the case.

Three minutes to fix, three hours to figure out the problem.

I think after five years the OP has either figured it out or moved on. :)