15" MacBook Pro Superdrive Woes...

[Jay42]

Ok, I've just noticed trying to upgrade from 10.5 to SL that my Superdrive is acting funny.

Anyone that's heard a superdrive knows that when you put a disc in the machine it spins up to a first "plateau" and then spins up to full speed. In my case, it spins up to the initial plateau and then spins down again. It will do this cycle maybe 3 - 4 times and then sometimes spit the disc back out. Occasionally it will continue this spin-up-spin-down cycle until I restart and hold the click button (eject does nothing).

Any help here or am I screwed (I'm just out of warrantee). Its a real shame - I use the optical drive so infrequently that I would never notice there was a problem until it's too late.

This is a 2009 15" MBP, 2.66 ghz with 4gb ram running 10.5.8.

EDIT: I have a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868

 

[Jay42]

Wow, after some additional research, it seems I am not the only one:

Apple Support Superdrive Issue

TidBits Article documenting the problem

Resetting PRAM and repairing disk permissions both in regular and safe mode did nothing...

As my machine is just out of warrantee - it looks like I'm pretty much out of luck - Apple has made no announcement to my knowledge to fix this problem. I guess I'll be getting an external drive - which I've heard don't work as well with iLife applications......uhhhg

 

[Jay42]

Update, for those who care:

For some reason I was thinking I was out of warrantee, but turns out my MPB is 11.5 months old! Brought it into the genius bar today and they swapped out the superdrive within 2 hours! They even blasted a new copy of SL on there without even asking if I owned a copy (I don't)! Another great service win for Apple.

I recommend anyone with an almost out of warrantee MacBook (especially those users who rarely use their optical bay) to TEST IT OUT and make sure it still works before its too late!

 

[djasterix]

Good for you, that's why I really love Apple, and thanks for the advice...