Well, it happened. Dropped my MBP.

[jsilas]

Hi everyone,

I have a similar problem - dropped MBP *sooob* - but my dent is just below the CD slot. It took me a while to realize because I don't use CDs that often anymore, but I haven't finished uploading all my old CDs onto my computer yet and I need this to work. Plus, if this means no more DVDs, no more burning CDs, that's a little sucky...
Problem = CD won't go in, it is blocked about 1/4 in" (0.5cm) in. The "sucking-CD-in" motion doesn't even start because I imagine it is blocked mechanically. I guess a quick fix would be to get an external CD/DVD read-write usb cable device, but I thought I'd post here to see if any of you thought it would be possible to get away with just fixing it by hand like done above (impressive work btw!!!). I'm not afraid to try it out. I'm just not sure that this isn't a job that needs more precision than just manual bending and I'm afraid of making more damage..

thank you very much for the help and here are pictures:

If that were my system, I would take the computer apart far enough to remove the SuperDrive (this isn't very difficult) and inspect it for damage. My guess is the slot is smashed down or something like that. You should be able to reshape the slot and get it sorted out physically - then it's a matter of seeing if the drive still works (replace it if it doesn't, they're not expensive).

As for the case, just use a gentle plastic tool and some patience and bend the metal gently until you reshape the slot to how it was originally.

Put it all back together, and enjoy your MacBook.

Check out ifixit.com for guides on taking your computer apart and reassembling. Also, if you're going to have it apart in that way, you may want to consider replacing your SuperDrive with a 2nd HDD and just put the SuperDrive in an external enclosure. I've done this and it's a really nice upgrade (small SSD for OSX and Apps, HDD for file storage). Google OptiBay for more details, or search here on MR.

 

[MaxBurn]

Fun read, good job. I had stumbled on this a month ago and almost asked about an update but didn't want to bring up a necro.