2 DVD drives dead?! This isn't right.

[exiva]

I have a MacBook Pro, 2.2GHz Intel Core2Duo with 10.5.6 and all the updates.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP31.0070.B07
SMC Version: 1.16f8
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

I had a Matshiuta DVD drive, which I took to Apple to have replaced because it would no longer read anything but Retail DVD, CD media (CDR's would read fine, DVD-/+ R however would not) It would read the discs for a second or two, then spit them out. Apple replaced the drive in September.

Now, I have a HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N DVD drive, which is a Hitachi/LG drive. Entirely different manufacturer... almost a year apart in manufacturing. and the SAME issue is happening. Only Retail DVD and any CD media (CDR's read fine) will read. Everything else it tries to read, but spits out.

Here's the system profile dump on my DVD drive.

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:

Firmware Revision: AP09
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

The only kind of DVD media I use is Taiyo Yuden DVD-R media. CD's only get used when the machine is on a flat surface, never picked up while media is reading... etc. I've used the new one (HL-DT-ST) *maybe* 10 times if that.

What the hell is going on?! There has to be something that is leading to this issue. 2 DVD drives from 2 different manufacturers and 2 different periods of times... the odds of them both failing in the same way are not good.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I might try to fix this?

 

[neilhart]

I agree that something is not right. This leaves the logic board or software.

You could eliminate one by using an external drive; clone your system to the external drive and insure that you can boot from that external drive. Then set the external drive aside. Reinstall OSX from DVD to the internal hard drive and with this fresh OS (don't even run software updates) check to see if your DVD problem still exists.

If the problem is gone, the problem was being caused by your installed OS or installed applications...

If you still have the problem, then run the hardware diags found on the second DVD of the original restore disk set.

Worst case is you don't find the problem and you have to restore from the external drive.

Neil