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Can't insert CD/DVD in iMac DVD drive
- Thread starter eldudorinio
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Like most of the others here I came across this post as a result of a MacMini that was having this problem in our stock at work.
Inserting a CD half way and it would not go any farther.
I tried the tapping at first and it would not work. I then tried inserting the CD at an angle upwards toward the rear of the Mac mini. The disc seemed to slowly allow itself to insert farther and farther. Eventually it was a quarter inch from fully inserted. The last little push and it pulled it in. From there I was easily able to eject the disc and then use the drive like normal.
Inserting a CD half way and it would not go any farther.
I tried the tapping at first and it would not work. I then tried inserting the CD at an angle upwards toward the rear of the Mac mini. The disc seemed to slowly allow itself to insert farther and farther. Eventually it was a quarter inch from fully inserted. The last little push and it pulled it in. From there I was easily able to eject the disc and then use the drive like normal.
More on this topic
I had a similar problem in that my mid-2010 iMac was burning a CD which ejected itself with an error message midway through the burn. Subsequently, I could not install another CD in the HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA32N Super Drive. There was a mechanical blockage preventing the disc from going in.
So I tried all of the "standard" disc ejection methods (see http://osxdaily.com/2009/08/28/eject-a-stuck-disk-from-your-mac-dvd-super-drive/). None of those worked. Then I found this thread and tried the disc tapping method. That didn't work either.
The next day, I took my iMac to the Genius Bar. The genius tried doing a restart with optioncommandRP keys held down (resetting the PRAM). That didn't help either. He then took the iMac into the back room and did an inspection of the drive. He came back and told me that there is a metal arm that drops down to hold the disc in place and that arm was in the closed position. He quoted me a price of $39 to take back off the iMac if he could fix the existing drive and a price of $179 to replace the drive. They couldn't do the work then, so I took the iMac back home with me. After restarting it, a disc still wouldn't go in.
The next day, just for the heck of it, I thought I would try the standard disc ejection methods again. Nothing was working until I got to the terminal command "drutil eject". Surprise !! The super drive made a noise and after that I was able to reinsert another disk. Perhaps this process of resetting PRAM followed by a Terminal eject command may help other people who are suffering from a similar problem.
I had a similar problem in that my mid-2010 iMac was burning a CD which ejected itself with an error message midway through the burn. Subsequently, I could not install another CD in the HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA32N Super Drive. There was a mechanical blockage preventing the disc from going in.
So I tried all of the "standard" disc ejection methods (see http://osxdaily.com/2009/08/28/eject-a-stuck-disk-from-your-mac-dvd-super-drive/). None of those worked. Then I found this thread and tried the disc tapping method. That didn't work either.
The next day, I took my iMac to the Genius Bar. The genius tried doing a restart with optioncommandRP keys held down (resetting the PRAM). That didn't help either. He then took the iMac into the back room and did an inspection of the drive. He came back and told me that there is a metal arm that drops down to hold the disc in place and that arm was in the closed position. He quoted me a price of $39 to take back off the iMac if he could fix the existing drive and a price of $179 to replace the drive. They couldn't do the work then, so I took the iMac back home with me. After restarting it, a disc still wouldn't go in.
The next day, just for the heck of it, I thought I would try the standard disc ejection methods again. Nothing was working until I got to the terminal command "drutil eject". Surprise !! The super drive made a noise and after that I was able to reinsert another disk. Perhaps this process of resetting PRAM followed by a Terminal eject command may help other people who are suffering from a similar problem.
Well I can't believe it
So all of the sudden the mac mini wont take a disc. I think it's the classic stuck disc problem. Nope. Just won't take one. So I read this forum and rammy one in. It spits it out a couple of times, then BINGO, it starts working. I have no idea how nothing broke.
So all of the sudden the mac mini wont take a disc. I think it's the classic stuck disc problem. Nope. Just won't take one. So I read this forum and rammy one in. It spits it out a couple of times, then BINGO, it starts working. I have no idea how nothing broke.
Just registered to post a big thank you!
The exact problem and situation as what Laserguy914 posted happened to me on my mid 2010 27" iMac HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA32N Super Drive at work yesterday! (7/16/2013)
I have to register to thank Laserguy914 because I tried EVERYTHING mentioned in the thread until I got to Laserguy914's post, the rest is history Just exactly as what was described in the post "Nothing was working until I got to the terminal command "drutil eject". Surprise !!The super drive made a noise and after that I was able to reinsert another disk."
The exact problem and situation as what Laserguy914 posted happened to me on my mid 2010 27" iMac HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA32N Super Drive at work yesterday! (7/16/2013)
I have to register to thank Laserguy914 because I tried EVERYTHING mentioned in the thread until I got to Laserguy914's post, the rest is history Just exactly as what was described in the post "Nothing was working until I got to the terminal command "drutil eject". Surprise !!The super drive made a noise and after that I was able to reinsert another disk."
Awesome!
I really was losing all hope since I spent 5 hours searching the web and even installing official Apple Hardware Diagnostic on an USB Stick to boot from. I put in the test CD till I felt some resistance and was really not feeling well while forcing the CD into the drive by pushing it several times. But it DID the magic. Awesome! You made my day!
I really was losing all hope since I spent 5 hours searching the web and even installing official Apple Hardware Diagnostic on an USB Stick to boot from. I put in the test CD till I felt some resistance and was really not feeling well while forcing the CD into the drive by pushing it several times. But it DID the magic. Awesome! You made my day!
be careful
I could not insert a disc, tried all of the above before tapping a disc in and now it will not eject by any method and does not show on the Mac in the usual places. I believe the issue has various causes and some solutions will fix some drives. I don't know if I feel worse with a stuck disc or a machine that won't accept one. (YMMV) LOL
I could not insert a disc, tried all of the above before tapping a disc in and now it will not eject by any method and does not show on the Mac in the usual places. I believe the issue has various causes and some solutions will fix some drives. I don't know if I feel worse with a stuck disc or a machine that won't accept one. (YMMV) LOL
I had a similar problem. I used the " mechanical " way with the hands. And it worked. But when i insert a CD in the drive and open the the CD, the drive start a very loud noise something like i am working with a chainsaw. When i insert a DVD the noise is normal.
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Mr. Spike and Mark
Long after you first posted this answer, I just had the same problem discussed here tonite with my iMac acting like there was a disk in the drive when i knew there was not! That was a first! And I am so happy this thread came right up to fix it. I tried your tapping method a few times and it didn't work. But just as i was about to give up i gave the disk one more tap tap with my hand a bit more closed vs. hard tap and voila, in it went! And like someone else said when i moved the disk into the eject button it came right out and then the next disk went right in without having to use this trick! Although then it self-ejected a couple of times before deciding to stay in the drive!?? THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this answer! Pallas
Long after you first posted this answer, I just had the same problem discussed here tonite with my iMac acting like there was a disk in the drive when i knew there was not! That was a first! And I am so happy this thread came right up to fix it. I tried your tapping method a few times and it didn't work. But just as i was about to give up i gave the disk one more tap tap with my hand a bit more closed vs. hard tap and voila, in it went! And like someone else said when i moved the disk into the eject button it came right out and then the next disk went right in without having to use this trick! Although then it self-ejected a couple of times before deciding to stay in the drive!?? THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this answer! Pallas
i tried this and it worked in that it finally accepted the disk, however, it will not read nor eject the disk. If you're going to try this method, be smart and use a blank disk or one that you don't care about.
Exact same problem on 2011 27" Imac with a seemingly blocked disk drive, tried this 'tapping and pressing the disk in' solution and yes it works disk is read and ejects fine...absolutely brilliant and what a saviour having a post that is around to help years later..thanks to everyone for keeping it alive.. ;-)
[doublepost=1457388425][/doublepost]I just took mine out to the barn and dissected the stupidrive with my 12 gauge. If Apple ever built a piece of crap, it certainly is there stupidrive.
WORKS LIKE MAGIC. Try this in a second and voila!
I did this by forcing an eject through commandline. Open a terminal and straight away type:
drutil eject
Hope this helps!
I did this by forcing an eject through commandline. Open a terminal and straight away type:
drutil eject
Hope this helps!
Hey thanks for the tip. I was supposed to take my iMac to Apple store tomorrow. Because of this piece of information, I may have saved a few bucks.
[doublepost=1562340243][/doublepost]Well, you learn something new every day. reset SME and other suggestion and by chance came across this and it works. Many thanks.