HELP! CD jammed inside G4 iMac

mimacmimac
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Damn! I've got a CD stuck inside my G4 iMac (and I mean INSIDE)!

The tray is coming out empty and the CD is nowhere in sight though when I try to load again I can hear the thing grinding inside.



Anyone had this problem or give any help?

Think I may have to operate on the machine though even if I get the CD out I am worried I may have to replace the superdrive. Any thoughts?



Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,341moderator
    How in all of holy hell did you manage to do that? Did the cd get caught while the tray ejected and maybe got stuck under the tray or something? I can't think of where else it would go. But then I don't think it wouldn't grind if it did that.



    All CD drives I know of are enclosed so it has to be inside the CD drive enclosure, which generally isn't that big. Have you tried tipping the imac forward to see if it slides out?
  • Reply 2 of 3
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Getting to the DVD drive in a Sunflower iMac is a major job. The optical and hard drives are right in the centre of the machine and you have to take out the motherboard and virtually every other component to get to them.



    If you have a Pioneer drive installed (which you probably have), it's possible to pull the tray out of the machine completely without having to take the machine to bits.



    Press the eject key on the keyboard, and when the tray pops out switch the machine off at the wall (if you shut down the mac will retract the tray back inside).



    Whilst pulling fairly hard, wiggle the tray from left to right. The tray should come away cleanly. You can then see inside the drive itself. It there's a disc in there you should be able to see it and drag it out with tweezers or similar ? just make sure that the machine isn't plugged in at the wall.



    To be honest, I can't see how there can be a disc in there ? is it possible that there is something else in there that is making a similar noise? There are a number of cogs etc. in there, it could be that the gears are chewing rather than there being a disc in there?



    Hope this helps!
  • Reply 3 of 3
    mimacmimac Posts: 872member
    Thanks for the replies guys. Strangest thing... I left the drive tray open for an hour or so then closed it. A cable got in the way of the drive flap and it slapped off the front as it closed. This must have shaken the CD loose and it dropped into the tray again and ejected smoothly! Weird



    Never have come across this type of thing... ah well, at least the drive is working again (fingers crossed).



    I was contemplating a full dismantle of the machine and had even downloaded a service manual for the iMac. If anyone is interested you can find it and many others HERE. Very useful indeed.



    Cheers.
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