Pismo DVD Drive DEAD in the water

cosmonutcosmonut
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Okay, without success, I've tried everything I can think of to get this drive to work, but I get bubkus.



The DVD drive will not spin, open, or anything on its own. It's like it is getting NO power or signal at all. The System Profiler doesn't even show that it exists.



I've tried resetting with the programmers button on the back, no luck. Rebuilding the desktop doesn't work.



Any ideas?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    well, time to call Apple.



    looks like, don't you think ?
  • Reply 2 of 17
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    ask fran
  • Reply 3 of 17
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    no, fran will come in here and bitch about the fact that all people now ask him because of his 'experiences' with apple. right fran ?
  • Reply 4 of 17
    a@rona@ron Posts: 201member
    I had the same problem with my iBook indigo's cd drive and I opened it up and plugged the ribbon cable back into it. Have you checked to see that the ribbon cable of the drive is secure in the back of it? If not the drive would recieve no power and act as described. If you need directions on how to take your pismo apart I'd try google and search for pismo take apart or something to that effect.



    A@ron



    [ 02-23-2003: Message edited by: A@ron ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 17
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    Just so you know....many pismos had this problem. It's a bad dvd drive problem, I have the same issues with mine, and I have found no fix <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />



    Honestly I'd consider an after market cd/dvd rom combo. Not cheap, but I don't think you'll resolve your issues otherwise. I used to take the drive out, open the drive through the pin hole, and try try try to get it to work.



    More than once I've wanted to toss my pismo out the window. it's the only mac I've owned that has pissed me off. The machine is great the dvd drive is the shitz
  • Reply 6 of 17
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Hmm. Well, it looks like I need to do one of two things:



    1) Price a new drive for the computer.

    2) Save, save, save as fast as possible for a new machine (I need one anyway).
  • Reply 7 of 17
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    Well I've got bad news for you and I've got worse news for you.



    Do you have an AppleCare extended warranty? Right now it might be your only hope.



    If the Apple System Profiler isn't finding the drive, and the drive is getting no power at all, it could actually be an entirely different issue than the drive. It sounds like the bus could be damaged somehow.



    If the drive isn't getting power, then buying a new drive (such as one from MCE) isn't going to fix your problem.



    If you know someone that owns a Pismo (which is probably a long shot), you could always try your drive in their machine and vice-versa.



    If your drive works in their machine and you don't have AppleCare, you're out of luck.



    If your drive doesn't work in their machine and their drive doesn't work in your machine, then some kind of electrical damage has most likely damaged the bus and the drive. In this instance, you're out of luck.



    If your drive doesn't work in their machine and their drive works in yours, you can buy another drive and it should be okay. It's not a cheap replacement, though.



    If you have AppleCare, Apple is once again shipping the PowerBook G3's DVD drive. The worst case scenario would be that you would send the computer in to be fixed and they would repair whatever issue it has. I think you would have probably done this already if you had AppleCare, though.



    There was at no time when I had my PowerBook G3 that the DVD-ROM drive didn't show up in the Apple System Profiler. The drive always tried to spin up and would open on command. It just didn't work. Nothing would ever mount and it would make the ocassional grinding noise (which made me fear for my CDs). I think your drive isn't getting power which is a much more serious problem. If you can get a hold of something to test this out, you should.



    Otherwise, just buy an external Firewire DVD drive and use it until you can scrape together enough cash for a new machine. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    [ 02-25-2003: Message edited by: Fran441 ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 17
    defiantdefiant Posts: 4,876member
    fran, you ruin me.
  • Reply 9 of 17
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    AppleCare...yeah. Funny you bring that up.



    I bought AppleCare (back in 9/00), and after I did the phone-in registration, they were supposed to send me the certificate.



    It NEVER came. Several months later I called back and said, "Hey, my certificate never came." To make a long story shorter, the guy couldn't find any record of me in AppleCare, and told me I'd need to fax him a copy of my original invoice and a bunch of other crap to have him send me another certificate.



    I tried to find all this stuff they wanted, and after a while I couldn't locate them anywhere. I said, "Fvck it, my computer's fine anyway."



    So now, in the last couple months, the battery AND my DVD drive have fried (which actually makes me think that the power going to those slots in the machine went haywire). I need to call Apple back and/or find the damn paperwork I need to prove that I actually DO HAVE APPLECARE!



    I should still have until this September before it runs out. I guess it's hunting time.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    Dang, the same *exact* thing happened to me. I sent in the reigstration card and they decided not to process it since I had the same enrollment number as someone else. That problem haunted me for over 2 years until they finally straightened it out.



    Every time I called for support, they were 'confused' about what was wrong with my AppleCare plan even though they had case #s devoted to the problem. Ridiculous.



    If you can find the info and get the plan activated, the 'worst case scenario' would be to send your laptop in to be checked out and getting a new DVD drive and battery in return.



    We all know what the best case scenario is.
  • Reply 11 of 17
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    Me likey the best case scenario.



    But I'm sure the info. I need is around here somewhere. It just sucks to think that they drop the ball so often on support and the like. What is their problem?



    I'll tell you: next time I buy a machine from them, I'm going to go through the AppleCare Auto-Enrollment. Hopefully that has a greater rate of success in making sure people get covered for what they pay for.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    An update...I don't know why I didn't think of this before:



    I also have a Zip250 internal drive for my Pismo's expansion bay. I tried it out this morning, and it works. So apparently the problem is not exclusive to the computer. Part of it IS the DVD drive.



    So I need to find my paperwork. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 13 of 17
    fran441fran441 Posts: 3,715member
    If that's the case, then you should be able to buy any MCE drive that works with the Pismo without an issue.



    Of course, it would be nice to get the DVD drive from Apple to take advantage of that Apple Care warranty.
  • Reply 14 of 17
    squashsquash Posts: 332member
    If you can find the apple care then send it back in. It is the drive. If you do a search in the discussion of apples own site you should find others that have had the issue with the pismo.



    I 100% believe the drive they selected was prone to problems, and I think they know but won't admit it too. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />
  • Reply 15 of 17
    happy camperhappy camper Posts: 24member
    [quote]Originally posted by SQUÅSH:

    <strong>If you can find the apple care then send it back in. It is the drive. If you do a search in the discussion of apples own site you should find others that have had the issue with the pismo.



    I 100% believe the drive they selected was prone to problems, and I think they know but won't admit it too. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>



    I was lucky to find a second hand Pismo DVD Drive on E-Bay that came with a one year warranty for about half the price of a new one. Other than that you can try: -



    <a href="http://www.pbparts.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.pbparts.com/</a>;



    <a href="http://www.abcr.co.uk/"; target="_blank">http://www.abcr.co.uk/</a>;
  • Reply 16 of 17
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    I may just look at getting a firewire CD-RW. That way when I buy another machine, I'll still be able to have full use of it. I don't really need the DVD capability.



    I'll leave the Zip drive in the Pismo, and switch out the battery with the "weight-saving module".



    [ 03-03-2003: Message edited by: CosmoNut ]</p>
  • Reply 17 of 17
    dixondixon Posts: 7member
    I've got a similar problem. I've been trying to find a new drive as well. My drive still works for popping in a cd to copy files, but it can't seem to handle a dvd anymore. It was my father's powerbook. He damaged the cd drive as well as his zip drive while travelling. I've been thinking about getting a new drive but they are so expensive. They are like 1/3 the cost of cheap ibook.



    And all I really want to do is watch dvd's on it when I travel. I used an external cdrw to install Jaguar and keep the machine uptodate. I highly recommend an external cdrw.
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