Eject CD after HD Wipe?

[LawMonkey]

Hey all--

I recently acquired a shiny new MacBook, and decided it was time to retire my 1st gen mac mini that's served as my "desktop" for the last few years. I may donate it to a family member who needs a computer, or else send it in to Apple for recycling later this year when I hopefully get an iMac.

So I went ahead and wiped the HD using Darik's Boot & Nuke. Everything went smoothly until I finished the wipe and realized that I had no way to get the CD out of the drive! I've tried to boot into Open Firmware with cmd-opt-o-f, but to no avail. (To be fair, it may be that I wasn't quick enough with the fingers--it's impossible to hold those keys and hit the power button at the same time.)

Any ideas? Is Open Firmware housed to some extent on the hard drive, or should I recruit a volunteer to press power while I hold the keys? If necessary, I'm not afraid to open the case--I upgraded the memory myself, and I think I still have the putty knife around here somewhere. 😀

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Boot the computer normally (it won't find an operating system - this is okay) and hold down the mouse button (use a USB mouse - a Bluetooth mouse won't work). This will eject the CD. Once it ejects you can turn the power off.

 

[LawMonkey]

Thanks--I had tried that with my wireless USB trackball to no avail, but I borrowed a wired mouse that did the trick. 🙂