Help with CD/DVD drive

[sutercustom]

I was recently given a mac laptop that I know nothing about. I have figured out that it is a year 2000 Power Book. It turns on fine but I was told that the previous owner had downloaded a bunch of porn to it and when they were tying to clean it off they accidentally deleted what ever it is that makes the CD/DVD drive work.

can anyone help me out? Is it possible to get this up and running good again?

 

[unity]

There is nothing that makes it "work" per say. But it would help knowing which one you have.

Year 2000 would likely mean its a Pismo or Lombard. Those are the code names.

Near the hinge, in front, does it say "PowerBook" or "PowerBook G3"?

What system is it running? Os 8, 9, 10?

 

[sutercustom]

i took some crappy pictures of it with my web cam. the "about this mac"

says

Mac OS X
version 10.3
processor 500 MHz PowerPC G3
Memory 256 MB SDRAM

The cd drive doesn't work and i was told that the hardware is fine but the program that runs it was deleted.

Can someone please help me!!!

 

[unity]

Pictures are not the best, but it looks like a possible "Pismo".

http://www.halfvalue.com/identify-applepowerbook.htm

Either way, given the speed and specs it would have the necessary hardware built-in for the DVD drive.

In short, if it is not working the drive is not good. Who ever told you the software is missing to make the drive work is an idiot, its a mac, there are no "drivers" that could be deleted to disable the drive without INTENTIONALLY doing so.

What does it NOT do? Disc goes in and what happens?

 

[sutercustom]

I looked at the back and it matched up best with the Pismo(M7572)(aka "Firewire")

It simply does not do anything. When i push the eject button it will not come out. When i open the DVD player and press eject nothing happens

I can not open it to even get a cd in

 

[unity]

I looked at the back and it matched up best with the Pismo(M7572)(aka "Firewire")

It simply does not do anything. When i push the eject button it will not come out. When i open the DVD player and press eject nothing happens

I can not open it to even get a cd in

Eject the entire drive and reset it in. There is a tab on the left and right on the computer, one for drive bay and one for battery. They are to the front and far left and right. Pull towards you gently and will push the drive out. You can do it with it on, not a big deal since its "hot swappable". Then push it back in.

If it still does not work then the drive is shot or the interconnect to the mother board is shot.

Let me know. I used to own a few Pismos and have TONS of parts laying around including some drives and motherboards - I think... I used to repair them and sell them complete on eBay when they were actually worth something!

 

[sutercustom]

Eject the entire drive and reset it in. There is a tab on the left and right on the computer, one for drive bay and one for battery. They are to the front and far left and right. Pull towards you gently and will push the drive out. You can do it with it on, not a big deal since its "hot swappable". Then push it back in.

If it still does not work then the drive is shot or the interconnect to the mother board is shot.

Let me know. I used to own a few Pismos and have TONS of parts laying around including some drives and motherboards - I think... I used to repair them and sell them complete on eBay when they were actually worth something!

I tried that and didn't work. Is this computer even worth fixing? How much really is it worth?

 

[unity]

I tried that and didn't work. Is this computer even worth fixing? How much really is it worth?

Well they sell for about $150 to $250 depending on specs. Whether its worth fixing is up to you, but it sure sound like the drive is bad. Even if it was "deleted software" the drive would still eject just fine.

But like I said it could be the drive or it could be the connection on the motherboard.

They are a nice laptop. I had a couple and used one for a long time. Once can even upgrade the processor to a G4 to get some more speeds.

 

[sutercustom]

hey thanks for all the help