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ophidean

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 26, 2007
99
0
Philadelphia, PA
I purchased my MBP in June and recently have been having problems with the superdrive. Basically every time I put a DVD into the drive I have to toss a coin on whether its going to play or not...Is this something I should take to a genius? Its very frustrating...Some of the DVDs are brand new and it just spits them out. The ones it decides to play it takes forever to load.
 
I purchased my MBP in June and recently have been having problems with the superdrive. Basically every time I put a DVD into the drive I have to toss a coin on whether its going to play or not...Is this something I should take to a genius? Its very frustrating...Some of the DVDs are brand new and it just spits them out. The ones it decides to play it takes forever to load.

Yes, take it to a Genius.

Otherwise, it could just be some dirt in the drive, but who knows? Maybe someone else in these forums :)
 
Its strange, it plays all CDs, blank CD-Rs, DVD-Rs etc etc...just DVDs it hates. Almost 50/50...spins 3 times then spits them out.

Are there any troubleshoots?
 
More likely a hardware issue than software.. DVD-R are single layer while movie DVDs are dual layer, and the laser has to focus differently to hit that second layer..

Could be anything from dirt as mentioned to the mechanical parts that move and focus the laser. Take it in :)
 
Its strange, it plays all CDs, blank CD-Rs, DVD-Rs etc etc...just DVDs it hates. Almost 50/50...spins 3 times then spits them out.

Are there any troubleshoots?

Bad news:

definite hardware issue, and one that gets worse over time. My mbp was doing the EXACT same thing: spinning up three times and then spitting it out. It started off doing it 50/50, but within 6 months wasn't playing any optical media at all.

Good news:

I contacted applecare, they told me to take it into a store, and when i did this, they swapped my superdrive for a new one within an hour. Shouldn't be any different for you

Fantastic service!:)
 
Bad news:

definite hardware issue, and one that gets worse over time. My mbp was doing the EXACT same thing: spinning up three times and then spitting it out. It started off doing it 50/50, but within 6 months wasn't playing any optical media at all.

Good news:

I contacted applecare, they told me to take it into a store, and when i did this, they swapped my superdrive for a new one within an hour. Shouldn't be any different for you

Fantastic service!:)
Same here. I took my MBP to the Genius Bar (had to drive an hour to get there :mad: ), they took a look at it, and swapped out the disk drive. The whole process took about a half hour. Definitely plan on extending my Warranty, the cost of the drive would have been more than the warranty itself.
 
Same here. I took my MBP to the Genius Bar (had to drive an hour to get there :mad: ), they took a look at it, and swapped out the disk drive. The whole process took about a half hour. Definitely plan on extending my Warranty, the cost of the drive would have been more than the warranty itself.

thats one of the things that struck me about the replacement! After just one issue, it becomes obvious how valuable applecare really is
 
my superdrive did the same thing and finally died, it stopped reading everything thrown at it. I took it in and unfortunately they had to order the part and it took about 10 days to get it back to me.
 
Thanks for the advise everyone. Looks like I'll have to make the 40 minute drive to King of Prussia, PA (nearest Apple store). I figured it was a hardware issue.
 
thats one of the things that struck me about the replacement! After just one issue, it becomes obvious how valuable applecare really is
Yeah, but the cost seems artificially inflated a bit...$300 for a slot-loading drive? Come on!
 
Bad news:

definite hardware issue, and one that gets worse over time. My mbp was doing the EXACT same thing: spinning up three times and then spitting it out. It started off doing it 50/50, but within 6 months wasn't playing any optical media at all.

Good news:

I contacted applecare, they told me to take it into a store, and when i did this, they swapped my superdrive for a new one within an hour. Shouldn't be any different for you

Fantastic service!:)

I made an appointment with a genius tomorrow...hoping it doesn't take long.
 
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