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iveast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2009
18
0
When I put in any cd - burned or store-bought - this is the message I get: "The Disc You Inserted Was Not Readable By This Computer," along with the choice to Ignore or Eject. Clicking Ignore does nothing. I did some google searching on this phenomenon, and it seems people get this message with bad external drives or something, but I couldn't find anything regarding a computer that just stopped accepting cds. Also, to make it more interesting, DVDs work fine (so, at least I know the drive itself is ok), as does dvdPlayer. I checked the system preferences and all seems to be set up fine.

The ONLY thing I can think of that was a bit odd was the other day I was going to burn a cd via iTunes, but I put the disc in before iTunes asked me to and ToastTitanium opened up. I simply quit Toast, ejected the disc and started the process over. The burn went fine (at least, i think it did, since I can't really check it now because the computer won't accept cds), and the next day is when this issue began.

Any insight on this is MUCH appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

(oh, if it matters, this is a Summer '09 MacBook)
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
This is normal behavior.. when a blank disk is inserted, it asks what you want to do with the disk in the Finder. Is this what you're seeing?
 

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iveast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2009
18
0
No. The problem isn't with blanks. Its with regular store-bought music cds, as well as burned music cds. I don't know how to post the image of the message, but I get a big stop sign with a white exclamation point in the center. At the top of the message it reads, "Disc Insertion." Then I get the message like in the title of my post, before it asks if I want to Ignore or Eject.
 

iveast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2009
18
0
Cleaning the CD? It's not 1 cd. It's every cd. And I figure the drive itself is fine because it is reading DVDs just fine.
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
No, cleaning the optical drive.

If that doesn't work, it's likely the device will have to be repaired/replaced.. 99% not a software issue.
 

iveast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2009
18
0
So... even though the DVD works & the CD doesn't, it could still be the drive? How can that be? If the drive uses the same optics to read both, no matter what type of disc it is, how could it be the optics?
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
Don't know.. I only know the basics of optical drives. I believe the lasers read at different wavelengths for different disc types. Could be that the wavelength used for DVDs are functional and the wavelengths for CDs does not.

The trues test is to create & login as another user and try the non-functional CDs with that user. If they work, then there's something wrong with the interface in your primary user. If they don't work, empirical evidence suggests that it's a hardware problem and not a software problem.
 

iveast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 6, 2009
18
0
Wow. Very interesting idea! I created a new account, logged in under the new name and the same thing is happening. So... this means it's my drive and not a software issue?? Mac warranties are 1 year, right? Looks like the Genius Bar is in my future... UGH!

Thanks for the help!
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
I've been supporting Macs for a long time and in my experience, it's very rarely a software related issue with problems like these. There's no download and reinstall for optical drive drivers from Apple. They typically work or they don't and it's usually a problem with the optical drive hardware itself.

Yes, one year if you didn't purchase AppleCare..
 

shay28

macrumors newbie
May 7, 2010
1
0
Hi there...

That is exactly what I'm seeing - the 'you inserted a blank CD...' window. This is happening when ever I insert a burned disk with photos on it. I'm having a problem with a CD of photos that I burned on my parent's mac and also a purchased CD from Disneyland, it says that the disc is blank, but if I take it to walmart it has the images. Any ideas?

Thanks so much!
 

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
Try the same procedure.. log in as another user and see if it works. If not, it's likely to be an optical drive failure.

To check, and if you have the time and inclination, you can reinstall the OS and see if it works, but I'm pretty sure that's going to be a waste of time.
 

Lip81

macrumors newbie
Aug 26, 2010
1
0
same problem

I have the same problem but only with photo cds.

-I inserted 2 different type cds both with photos, both burnt and they didn't work.
-I inserted 3 music cds, 1 normal other 2 burnt and same type cd and they all worked.

logged in as different user and same problem

when inserted nothing appears on desk top a warning message appears that says, "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer"
 

mhart900

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2014
1
0
Disk not readable probably a software problem

I have received the same error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."

I say this because I open Windows media on my MAC using VMware Fusion and the same disk plays just fine.
 

chasdemont

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2015
1
0
Disk not readable probably a software problem

I have received the same error message "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer."
I say this because I open Windows media on my MAC using VMware Fusion and the same disk plays just fine.

I am VERY surprised but it would seem to be true that some external optical disk players will not work properly with Apple Mac computers. I have a simple CD/DVD player which works perfectly well with either Linux or Windows but will not work with a OS X!

I have tried using my DVD/CD player with OS X versions 10.8 and 10.9 without success. I imagine all subsequent versions of OS X will have the same problem. I can only conclude that the problem is with the Apple software and not the optical drive. Somehow the necessary driver software has not been included with OS X. On most discussion forums like this, Apple experts regularly declare the problem is with the drive hardware but that is clearly untrue. I consider myself a fairly experienced Apple user and I haven't yet found a solution to this problem. I'll make an amendment to this message if I do. Cheers y'all.
 

jerryvt

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2019
1
0
Lakewood Ranch, FL
I just ran into this for the first time today. I haven't imported a CD until I upgraded to Mojave. I have an external drive that I'm using to import audio CDs on my 2017 iMac. I have imported MANY audio CDs with this external drive, and then burned the CDs to copies. Today I imported a CD, no problem. Then I tried another (vintage 1992) and I got the dreaded message "This Disk is unreadable by this computer". I tried ejecting and reinserting. Same message. If I ever figure it out, I'll post a followup.
 
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