My dad put one of those small business card CDs into my iMac's slot load drive and now we can't get it out. We tried that paperclip trick but that didn't work. How would I go about getting it out?
I am afraid I have bad news. Apple have a post on the webby about these cards in the slot oading drives - basically DONT.
A few years back we tried the same thing in a slot load iMac, and it got stuck. Luckily when we called apple they were very nice to extent the warranty by a few days (it had just expired) and replace the drive.
Yes thats correct, you are prolly gonna need a replacement drive. The slot load drives use 4 pins to "hug" the disc into place. Using a square CD card often causes these pins to get broken.
one of my friends did this to his iMac (man how slow can some people be?) and i had to take his whole iMac apart. There was permanent damage done to the drive though so he had to get a new one (i think he had apple care) but it seems that the cd i guess spun and broke or knocked thigns out of place in it. I never realized how much plastic was inside a slotloading drive on the iMacs
you have to take it out and and then take the cd out and take off the bezel of the front of the drive... then theres 4 screws 2 on either side take those off, and then you'll see the open mechanism take the disk out, what usually happens is it scratches the lens... I can't tell you how often I had to fix this when i was a tech way back when on the the regular slot loading macs...
word of caution
don't do this if you have applecare it may void it
Comments
hold the handle and the bottom of the machine and try and force the CD to "fall out"...
this seems like your best bet short of disassembling the computer to take out the CD drive or sticking something in there to get it out...
i make no guarantees as to the safety of your computer components... I HAVE NOT done this myself (that I can recall...) do this at your own risk...
A few years back we tried the same thing in a slot load iMac, and it got stuck. Luckily when we called apple they were very nice to extent the warranty by a few days (it had just expired) and replace the drive.
Yes thats correct, you are prolly gonna need a replacement drive. The slot load drives use 4 pins to "hug" the disc into place. Using a square CD card often causes these pins to get broken.
Originally posted by PBG3
Any other ideas?
Try re-starting the iMac while holding your mouse button down. This usually ejects whatevers in the drive. Good Luck.
word of caution
don't do this if you have applecare it may void it
Originally posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R
Ignore that post. It will not eject the cd, and will likely break the mechanism that does.
Originally posted by 709
Yep, I second that...!
Apple says you can..so you can...
It cannot damage the mechanism as the machanism is retracted in the first place.
Restart Mac.While keeping mouse pressed down..
This ejects ALL Cds....
Works with my iMac slot loader.
Would like to know why you say it can't be done ?
Most odd.