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G3 Powerbook DVD drive not working

G

G4OS753

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 30, 2010
26
0
Hi, all! I have a G3 Pismo Powerbook that I use to play classic mac games. About a year ago, the DVD drive stopped reading discs. I thought that the drive itself went bad. So a week ago I finally got around to buying a new DVD-ROM drive. (Model M7931) I plugged the drive in and..........nothing.

I am wondering if some other hardware component could have failed. Or could I be looking at a software problem such as an extension issue? The OS is 9.0.2.

I would greatly appreciate any insight! Thanks!
 
Since the Lombard & Pismo shipped with 8.6 and 9.0.2 respectively, I doubt it's a driver issue.

Have a look in Apple System Profiler to see if the drive shows up and post it's actual model number.

The tray loading DVD drives in these are notoriously bad.

Have you tried a commercially pressed audio CD to test the drive?
 
MacTech68 said:
Since the Lombard & Pismo shipped with 8.6 and 9.0.2 respectively, I doubt it's a driver issue.

Have a look in Apple System Profiler to see if the drive shows up and post it's actual model number.

The tray loading DVD drives in these are notoriously bad.

Have you tried a commercially pressed audio CD to test the drive?
Click to expand...

I tried an audio CD. No luck.

The product ID is: DVD-ROM DRN8080B

Thanks for any help you can offer! :)
 
Check that the Apple CD/DVDROM extension is enabled, along with all the " xxx access" extensions which provide for various optical disk formats. Reboot if any changes are needed. This article shows which extensions should be loaded.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22573?viewlocale=en_US

Make sure that in System Profiler that the drive shows up as "ID 0" and NOT "ID 1" and the revision (or firmware) should be LAB8.

I assume this is an Apple badged drive? Have a look at the label on the drive, it should have an Apple logo on it and a 678xxxx number.
 
MacTech68 said:
Check that the Apple CD/DVDROM extension is enabled, along with all the " xxx access" extensions which provide for various optical disk formats. Reboot if any changes are needed. This article shows which extensions should be loaded.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22573?viewlocale=en_US

Make sure that in System Profiler that the drive shows up as "ID 0" and NOT "ID 1" and the revision (or firmware) should be LAB8.

I assume this is an Apple badged drive? Have a look at the label on the drive, it should have an Apple logo on it and a 678xxxx number.
Click to expand...

In System Profiler, the drive does show as "ID 0" and all the listed extensions are loaded and enabled.

While the drive is an Apple drive with an Apple logo, I cannot seem to find the 678xxx number anywhere on the drive.
 
Sadly, it sounds like it's the usual failure for these drives. (that is by diagnosis over the internet). ;)

The 678 number may not be on this model - ignore that.
 
MacTech68 said:
Sadly, it sounds like it's the usual failure for these drives. (that is by diagnosis over the internet). ;)

The 678 number may not be on this model - ignore that.
Click to expand...

Could I use an external DVD-ROM drive? Or perhaps a different brand? Thank you so much for all of your help!
 
G4OS753 said:
Could I use an external DVD-ROM drive? Or perhaps a different brand? Thank you so much for all of your help!
Click to expand...

Older original Apple internal DVD drives could be hit-and-miss, but the Matsushita drives appear to have been MUCH more reliable than the LG drive you have.

You could use a USB drive, but it will be horribly slow since it's only USB1 speed and finding a USB - IDE or SATA bridge chipset that is bootable is also a bit hit-and-miss.

Firewire is probably the best bet, but a slightly more expensive option. I would personally avoid a QPS QueFire firwire drive, since they had a very oddball firewire bridge. Others, like LaCie or even generic brand external boxes should be fine and bootable.

Your biggest problem with a firewire drive now will be, an older case will be IDE/PATA interface, and new optical drives that can be fitted will be getting scarce. Alternatively, newer firewire to SATA bridges may be a little pricey. Getting a case that uses a full sized 5 1/4" drive will be a great advantage because you can swap in a replacement optical drive.

Finally, if you are using MacOS 10.4, for which you'll need a decent size hard drive and max RAM, should be fine, but OS 8.6 - 9.2.2 can be a problem with drivers for the particular model of optical drive.

Tray loading optical drives were pretty bad idea, since when open there is an easy path for dust to get into the optics. You can use a few good blasts of compressed air (preferably via dehumidification filter if possible) and that can sometimes clean out the dust. Also, using a camera lens cleaner on the exterior of the lens MAY improve the readability of the drive. You MUST use a non-abrasive lens cleaning cloth to clean the lens.

Good luck.
 
MacTech68 said:
Older original Apple internal DVD drives could be hit-and-miss, but the Matsushita drives appear to have been MUCH more reliable than the LG drive you have.

You could use a USB drive, but it will be horribly slow since it's only USB1 speed and finding a USB - IDE or SATA bridge chipset that is bootable is also a bit hit-and-miss.

Firewire is probably the best bet, but a slightly more expensive option. I would personally avoid a QPS QueFire firwire drive, since they had a very oddball firewire bridge. Others, like LaCie or even generic brand external boxes should be fine and bootable.

Your biggest problem with a firewire drive now will be, an older case will be IDE/PATA interface, and new optical drives that can be fitted will be getting scarce. Alternatively, newer firewire to SATA bridges may be a little pricey. Getting a case that uses a full sized 5 1/4" drive will be a great advantage because you can swap in a replacement optical drive.

Finally, if you are using MacOS 10.4, for which you'll need a decent size hard drive and max RAM, should be fine, but OS 8.6 - 9.2.2 can be a problem with drivers for the particular model of optical drive.

Tray loading optical drives were pretty bad idea, since when open there is an easy path for dust to get into the optics. You can use a few good blasts of compressed air (preferably via dehumidification filter if possible) and that can sometimes clean out the dust. Also, using a camera lens cleaner on the exterior of the lens MAY improve the readability of the drive. You MUST use a non-abrasive lens cleaning cloth to clean the lens.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I am sorry that I have taken so long to get back to you. Life got in the way.

Can you recommend a model of Matsushita drive?

Thanks again for all of your help!
 
G4OS753 said:
I am sorry that I have taken so long to get back to you. Life got in the way.

Can you recommend a model of Matsushita drive?

Thanks again for all of your help!
Click to expand...

Sure,

original models:

Panasonic/Matsushita
SR-8171-C (2x DVD), or

SR-8174-C (6x DVD) -- recommended - Apple Model M7931 Service P/N 661-2244 (see last paragraph below)

The above page I linked to is a good article on swapping out a Matsushita, and the faceplate problems/compatibilities. Have a read of all 3 pages to get an idea of what you can do.

http://www.jax184.com/projects/pismo/drives.html

His choice ended up being a UJDA760 which is DVD-ROM CD/RW and was able to use the original Matsushita DVD faceplate with minor modifications. You'd still have to buy an original Matsushita DVD drive to get the faceplate.

Original drives will probably still be hit and miss, but if you're concerned about cosmetics then getting a drive that fits the faceplate is key. There seems to be 3 types of faceplates, as can be seen at the bottom of page one.

I guess the best approach would be to go for the original Pismo Apple SR-8174-C and if it's a working drive, then you're done. If you get a bad drive, then you can get a UJDA760 and swap the original faceplate onto it.
 
Last edited:
G4OS753 said:
Hi, all! I have a G3 Pismo Powerbook that I use to play classic mac games. About a year ago, the DVD drive stopped reading discs. I thought that the drive itself went bad. So a week ago I finally got around to buying a new DVD-ROM drive. (Model M7931) I plugged the drive in and..........nothing.

I am wondering if some other hardware component could have failed. Or could I be looking at a software problem such as an extension issue? The OS is 9.0.2.

I would greatly appreciate any insight! Thanks!
Click to expand...
I got the same exact drive and had the same exact issue but I took it apart unplugged the module connector and all the ribbon connectors in the dvd drive itself and replugged them in and now it works!
 
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