iMac won't burn cd's or read blank dvd's - Worked for the Genius Bar

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

I've been experiencing issues with my (early 2006) iMac not being able to finish burning a disc (Error Code 0x8002006E), as well as spitting out any blank dvd media I throw at it.

The strange thing is, I have not changed media types... I've been using these same discs for over a year (I don't burn a whole lot of stuff) and have yet to encounter a problem.

I realized today that I have literally 2 days left on my Applecare coverage, so I took it down to the Genius Bar to see if they could figure anything out. The guy booted from their diagnostic external HD, and was able to burn 3 cds and get the computer to recognize a blank dvd with no issue.

So I take it home and figure a total wipe and clean install should do the trick, but I'm sitting here now after doing so and am still not able to burn a single cd or read a dvd.... any thoughts on what this could be?


And as far as the media goes, I can stick the same disc in my MBP or Mini and they read and write to them just fine.... so I don't think I've suddenly come across a bad run of discs.

 

[Makosuke]

I did have an earlier (lamp-style) iMac that developed a very similar-sounding problem due to a failed optical drive, but it wasn't intermittent--it was a hardware failure so it just didn't work.

Of course, hardware failures CAN be intermittent, so there's some chance it's just flaking out on and off, especially if a clean install didn't help. I'd probably get me some extended AppleCare ASAP if I were you; it lists for $169.00 and can be had for less. That's probably somewhat more than a DIY optical drive replacement would cost, but if you have Apple do it it'll definitely cost more than that.