Late 2009 Mac mini with aftermarket BluRay issue

[bubbalv]

Hello!

I just bought a Panasonic UJ-267 for my Late 2009 Mac mini running OS X 10.11.6 and it's having a strange issue. Every so often it thinks there is a disc inserted (even though their isn't) and it won't let me insert a new one. When this happens, I need to go to terminal and run "drutil tray eject". The drive makes the ejecting noise, nothing comes out, and I'm now able to insert a disc.

Anyone have any idea why this is happening? Defective drive? It's brand new... could be a dud? Bought it from OWC and they are willing to exchange, but I want to eliminate anything else as the cause before I rip apart my mini again.

Thanks!

 

[Snappers]

Sounds like a dud drive to me. I've replaced several internal optical drives in my 2006 mini and they all had issues and never lasted long. Even the internal optical drive in my OWC ministack max died last year. I would return it and stick with an external USB optical drive if you are looking for the most hassle-free long-term solution.

 

[bubbalv]

Exchanged it for another one (same model) and it has the same problem. Ugh! These are brand new Panasonic bluray drives... I find it hard to believe they are both defective. Are their compatibility issues with some slot loading drives and the 2009 Mac mini?

 

[bubbalv]

Interestingly I just discovered that when the problem occurs, I can also fix it by going into System Report and clicking on the Disc Burning option. As soon as it displays the drive information, the drive starts accepting discs again! Almost like it was asleep & going to the System Report woke it up again.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Almost like it was asleep & going to the System Report woke it up again."

If you go to the "energy saver" preference pane, is there a checkmark in "put hard disks to sleep when possible"?

 

[bubbalv]

It was. I disabled it, but didn't make any difference.