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PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-112D is really noisy..!

S

serverplads

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 16, 2008
49
0
UK
Hi

I’ve just got my new Mac Pro yesterday, and just have a small question! The DVD drive is ??? and it is really noisy! First, when I start the up the Mac the drive makes a loud noise, even though there aren’t any disc in it! Second, it does the same when the computer is being wakened from sleep. And third, when I play a DVD it also makes a loud noise.

It simply can’t be right that a drive should mike such a loud noise!
The firmware is BC14

Is anybody else expiring this? Thanks!
 
I've got a 108, 111, 112 and 115 model in my PCs and I can pretty much say they are all about the same volume and nothing abnormal so my guess is maybe something is wrong with the one you've got.
 
it's pretty loud, but I guess that's the price for it being so fast... I wrote a DVD+R DL @ 10x yesterday. I've never seen a drive that did that. even stranger since the verbatim media it wrote to advertises "up to 6x speed".
 
Thanks for the quick reply!

Ye, I think it is really loud! I mean, I can’t barely hear what’s going on in the movie if I try to watch a DVD! Is it supposed to spin make a noise when the computer starts and wake up from sleep?
 
tourneur said:
Thats not the dvd player, thats the fan. And yes, its normal.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it's the fan, because it comes from the front where the drive is! All the CD's and DVD's i have tried all makes a loud noise! Sounds like a hairdryer!
 
serverplads said:
I'm not sure it's the fan, because it comes from the front where the drive is! All the CD's and DVD's i have tried all makes a loud noise! Sounds like a hairdryer!
Click to expand...

There are 2 fans at the front under the optical drive doors. The fans do sound like a hairdryer on startup. However, there is no reason for the fans to kick to a high speed on inserting and burning/reading media. When the optical drive kicks into a higher speed of reading or writing, they can be quite noisy. This noise should not be continuous, but usually fluctuates higher and lower in keeping with the read and write speed of your media. I'm thinking you're just not used to the sound of an optical drive operating at a high rpm. I have a Pioneer 112D and 115D in my MP. At times I suppose they might sound like fans or hair dryers.
 
Wow, thank you so much to all of you! I really appreciate your replies! So there is no need to worry about that there might be something wrong?
 
A lot of DVD drives make weird noises when powered up. I guess it's the laser pickup moving or something like that. You shouldn't worry about it.

Even if the drive eventually stops working, you can pick up a new one for next to nothing these days.
 
A hairdryer? Hah! The Yamaha 2100E CRW 16x10x40x CD-RW drive I installed in this machine sounds like a lawnmower. Of course, the 24x Apple CD-ROM drive it replaced sounded like a harrier jet taking off VTOLL-style...

But then again, hairdryer sounds are fan sounds, not DVD sounds. I'm actually thinking of buying that exact Pioneer drive for this machine.. it's only like $35 and I'm bored enough to buy it.
 
serverplads said:
Hi

I’ve just got my new Mac Pro yesterday, and just have a small question! The DVD drive is ??? and it is really noisy! First, when I start the up the Mac the drive makes a loud noise, even though there aren’t any disc in it! Second, it does the same when the computer is being wakened from sleep. And third, when I play a DVD it also makes a loud noise.

It simply can’t be right that a drive should mike such a loud noise!
The firmware is BC14

Is anybody else expiring this? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I just noticed this when I was playing a DVD in my new Mac Pro. Does the DVD Drive have a consistent noise when playing a dvd?

It's not the fans I don't think because I'm watching my stats in istat and the rpm's aren't changing.

If it's normal, that's fine. Just a little noisy so I might have to move it below my desk to enjoy the sound more as it's right ear level.
 
I, too, have the new Mac Pro and have noticed that when I play certain dvds, there is the loud fan noise. Anyway, it doesn't happen on all dvds or cds...just certain ones. I would love to know what causes it. You're right when you say that it is so loud that you can't watch the movie. This happens in both of my optical drives. Other than that, everything works fine.


serverplads said:
Hi

I’ve just got my new Mac Pro yesterday, and just have a small question! The DVD drive is ??? and it is really noisy! First, when I start the up the Mac the drive makes a loud noise, even though there aren’t any disc in it! Second, it does the same when the computer is being wakened from sleep. And third, when I play a DVD it also makes a loud noise.

It simply can’t be right that a drive should mike such a loud noise!
The firmware is BC14

Is anybody else expiring this? Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
The default Apple firmware treats burned DVDs (the greenish/blueish kind) as data disks and automatically cranks up the speed of the drive to max. If you happen to have a burned video DVD you're trying to watch, tough luck. The drive is going to make you deaf in 15 min. The same firmware treats all pressed DVDs/CDs (the silver kind) as audio/video and reduces the speed to control the noise. If you're trying to install a bit of software of a pressed DVD, it'll take you ages but it'll be really, really quiet :)

Flash the drive with a PC firmware to fix that problem.

I have a different problem with PC firmwares and I don't remember whether this was a problem with the original Apple firmware. When left inactive, the drive will spin down completely and the only way to reanimate it at that point is to try to eject the disk. I haven't seen this happen on a PC with the same drive I took out of the Mac Pro (to test). Anybody know a solution for this one?
 
My drive is quiet when I play a DVD, or rip a CD. The only time I hear it spin up is when I burn a DVD.
 
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