office 2004 dvd won't read on new imac

[donga]

so i just got a new 24" imac (midrange) and after instaling the software updates, wanted to get office 2004 on it.

i installed it on my powerbook years ago, on my dad's imac last year, then again on the powerbook after i had to wipe the drive.

now i put it into the superdrive and it keeps on whirring over and over again without actually reading it. it ejects with some help. i put in other dvds and they worked fine. (i put the office dvd into my dad's imac and my powerbook and they were fine, ran setup assistant)

anyone know the problem here? new imac has a bad drive?

 

[brop52]

Odd. Any scratches on it?

 

[JediMeister]

Different Apple computers have different sensitivity lasers in the optical drive so its not all to unusual for the other Macs to be able to read the Office 2004 disc but not the iMac. And I doubt there's anything wrong with the drive if it works with other DVDs and even the install disc. Ways to get around an overly sensitive/weak laser: 1) use an external optical drive (no you cannot use the MacBook Air external Superdrive), 2) try using the CD/DVD Sharing tool, but last I recall it doesn't work so well on serialized/copy-protected software, 3) if you have a FireWire cable, hook the iMac and one of the other computers with a readable drive in Target Disk Mode. With option 3, if you boot the other computer holding down "T", in addition to mounting the computer's internal drive on the iMac it should also mount the disc in the optical drive as well.

 

[donga]

Odd. Any scratches on it?

none at all. it has never left the case except for installs.

Different Apple computers have different sensitivity lasers in the optical drive so its not all to unusual for the other Macs to be able to read the Office 2004 disc but not the iMac. And I doubt there's anything wrong with the drive if it works with other DVDs and even the install disc. Ways to get around an overly sensitive/weak laser: 1) use an external optical drive (no you cannot use the MacBook Air external Superdrive), 2) try using the CD/DVD Sharing tool, but last I recall it doesn't work so well on serialized/copy-protected software, 3) if you have a FireWire cable, hook the iMac and one of the other computers with a readable drive in Target Disk Mode. With option 3, if you boot the other computer holding down "T", in addition to mounting the computer's internal drive on the iMac it should also mount the disc in the optical drive as well.

1. i don't have an external optical drive
3. i've got firewire 400 (but the new macs have no fw400 ports at all
2. cd/dvd sharing tool?

any other ideas to try?

 

[donga]

jediM,

thanks for the cd/dvd sharing idea. i enabled it on the old imac, then found this thread and typed this in the new imac:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool true
defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser ODSSupported -bool true

Relaunched Finder, then it worked flawlessly. Crisis averted. For a second there I thought I was going to have to rebuy Office. Thanks!