Macbook spits out dvd's, reads CD, not pram

[Xenophon]

Here's the situation:

My late 2008 alu unibody macbook doesn't accept dvd's anymore. They load fine but before the system attempts to read them, it spits them right out.

I googled for the problem, fond an article in the KB advising to reset pram, which I did. After resetting the pram, the dvd loads and is mounted, then spit right out, impossible to read anything from it. On subsequent attempts (without another pram reset), it just loads then spits it out, no mounting.

CD's work just fine.

My guess is the 'super'drive is toast. What do you guys think? Of course it's out of warranty....first my battery gave out after one year and one month, now this. Seriously disappointed about component quality, I could accept this from a low-end laptop but not from apple, with the premium they charge.

Any suggestions? How much would a replacement cost (approx)?

 

[mrsir2009]

That VERY same problem happened with my 2007 iMac. You'll need to get a new superdrive. Don't worry though, they only cost $30, with installation costs on top if you don't do it yourself.

 

[Xenophon]

Thanks, a new drive it will be then. Gonna cost me +200 USD going to the local apple distributor (live in India so I can't just order it from iFixIt and do it myself).

 

[iambasil]

Mine works if I turn it upside down!

 

[DoFoT9]

Mine works if I turn it upside down!

LOL LOL LOL LOL! seriously? that make me cack myself.

but yea - similar issues with my computer, it started off being the DVD, then CDs, then everything!

 

[mrsir2009]

Mine works if I turn it upside down!

Lol and the iMac sometimes worked if I tilted the screen up as far as it would go

 

[Nermal]

Thanks, a new drive it will be then. Gonna cost me +200 USD going to the local apple distributor (live in India so I can't just order it from iFixIt and do it myself).

iFixit sells internationally. OWC is another option (I've personally bought from OWC a few times with no issues).

 

[Frosties]

Usually a cheap cleaner-disc will set things right. The reading mechanism is full of dust and crap from the open slot-in and can not read the disc, therefore spitting it out as a faulty disc.

 

[J&JPolangin]

...and if a disk cleaner doesn't work, I'd just get an external DVDRW drive that's USB powered for ~$35 USD and be done with it (that would also give you a good excuse to install an extra HDD or SSD in the optibay for about the cost of repairing the superdrive internally)...

 

[eman]

I second the disk cleaner first, before replacing the drive.