Apple users report SuperDrive failures; more iPod camera cases

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Reports of dead SuperDrives on Apple's Macs have been cropping up; and once again, third-party iPod cases show camera holes, like they have numerous times in recent months.



Complaints of SuperDrive failures grow



A developer Friday told AppleInsider the drive on his Mac mini was only used a handful of times before the attempted install of Snow Leopard. After he inserted the installation disc for Mac OS X 10.6, the drive would not mount any other optical discs. Now, he said, the drive will not read or write any CD or DVD.



"Unfortunately, I have not been able to get Apple’s cooperation on resolving this," the developer said. "For now, I am advising all my Mac clients not to upgrade and I am not guaranteeing that any solution I build will run on Snow Leopard."



He also cited a colleague who had a similar problem on a two-year-old MacBook Pro. After the user attempted to install Snow Leopard, an error code was displayed. The drive would read CDs, but stopped mounting DVDs. When Apple replaced the SuperDrive in the MacBook Pro, the problem was not resolved.



However, the problem seems to go well beyond Snow Leopard. While a handful of users attempting to install the operating system have posted in recent days on the Apple Support discussion boards, user reports of failing Mac SuperDrives go back months, well before last week's release of Snow Leopard.



Numerous users have claimed problems with the drive models "MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E" and "HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N," though other models appear to be affected as well. Given numerous claims that the drives were rarely used, it's possible that the SuperDrives had problems all along, but were not accessed often enough for the issue to surface.



The developer said he spoke with AppleCare support, and was told that when a drive ejects more than one disc without playing it, the hardware is replaced, as there are no tools for troubleshooting software errors with optical drives.



"Of course, if replacing the hardware doesn't solve the problem (as appears to be the issue for some people who have tried) they're going to have to come up with a better strategy," he said.



New iPod cases again suggest inclusion of camera



Once again, third-party iPod case manufacturers appear to confirm that Apple will announce new iPod touch and iPod nano models with cameras at next week's press event. In new photos from Engadget, cases once again show holes for camera lenses on the presumed new hardware.



Rumors of the new hardware developed earlier this year and were later given more concrete support when a plethora of cases showed camera holes.



While a recent report suggested the iPod classic could also receive a camera upgrade, no third-party cases so far have suggested such a device is forthcoming.







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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    Uh, oh.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    My MacBook Pro's MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E has been useless for almost a year. Can't read CDs, can't read DVDs, can't burn anything. Had to buy a crappy external drive that makes more noise than my vacuum and shakes my desk like a washer-dryer. So upsetting. I could use my Apple Care but can't send my Mac away for more than a day...
  • Reply 3 of 46
    My Mini started installing then stopped and the superdrive started making noise so Interrupted it and put it in my external drive and completed the install. I have no tried my superdrive to see if it still works.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    I've been having super drive problems since Leopard. I even had apple replace the damn thing on warranty and the same thing happened again within the week. Organizing ti to be replaced on warranty again and now on Snow Leopard. But to me there is not difference between Leopard and Snow Leopard on this issue. The super drive just aint working right.
  • Reply 5 of 46
    I've got 12 Intel Macs in my house and one of my Mini's displayed this behavior. It was unable to install Snow Leopard, but would read CDs.



    I ended up having to use a portable drive to install with. I'm not sure if I agree with this guys assessment that Snow Leopard is the culprit.



    It could just as well have been an issue of seldom to never using the drive and it becoming damaged or to dirty to operate. Although all attempts to install after cleaning the drive with canned air were to no avail.
  • Reply 6 of 46
    Numerous? A handful? How many are we talking about here?
  • Reply 7 of 46
    My MacPro 1,1 exhibited the same problem. My drive came back eventually, but it locks intermittently and I'm unable to eject disks. These symptoms arrived with SL. Oh, and it's a brand new drive as my original SD failed earlier this year.
  • Reply 8 of 46
    tjstjs Posts: 31member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Complaints of SuperDrive failures grow



    A developer Friday told AppleInsider the drive on his Mac mini was only used a handful of times before the attempted install of Snow Leopard. After he inserted the installation disc for Mac OS X 10.6, the drive would not mount any other optical discs. Now, he said, the drive will not read or write any CD or DVD.



    "Unfortunately, I have not been able to get Apple’s cooperation on resolving this," the developer said. "For now, I am advising all my Mac clients not to upgrade and I am not guaranteeing that any solution I build will run on Snow Leopard."



    He also cited a colleague who had a similar problem on a two-year-old MacBook Pro. After the user attempted to install Snow Leopard, an error code was displayed. The drive would read CDs, but stopped mounting DVDs. When Apple replaced the SuperDrive in the MacBook Pro, the problem was not resolved.



    However, the problem seems to go well beyond Snow Leopard. While a handful of users attempting to install the operating system have posted in recent days on the Apple Support discussion boards, user reports of failing Mac SuperDrives go back months, well before last week's release of Snow Leopard.



    Numerous users have claimed problems with the drive models "MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E" and "HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N," though other models appear to be affected as well. Given numerous claims that the drives were rarely used, it's possible that the SuperDrives had problems all along, but were not accessed often enough for the issue to surface.



    The developer said he spoke with AppleCare support, and was told that when a drive ejects more than one disc without playing it, the hardware is replaced, as there are no tools for troubleshooting software errors with optical drives.



    "Of course, if replacing the hardware doesn't solve the problem (as appears to be the issue for some people who have tried) they're going to have to come up with a better strategy," he said.









    I've got a Power Mac Dual G4 MDD that I attempted to install Leopard on and the internal optical drive hasn't worked since. The drawer won't even open. I have since downgraded back to Tiger due to other issues, but the drive still does not function. It's difficult to know if the attempted Leopard install was the cause or just a coincidence and the drive crapped out due to age... I've been looking at replacing the drive, a dual layer burner is around $30 these days, but if that doesn't fix the problem then what's the point?
  • Reply 9 of 46
    apple also fucked up my mbp 2,33 c2d superdrive about 1 1/2 years ago with a firmware update...

    2days later this update was offline and apple deleted every trace that had to do with this update... since then I can't even burn 1 stupid audio cd or a standard dvd!



    Now after installing Snow Leopard I can't even insert any cd or dvd because my MBP ejects it about 10 seconds after it was inserted... this is the case for EVERY kind of compact disc (originals & burned discs)





    My Drive is a:

    MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D:



    Firmware-VersiontKCVB

    VerbindungstyptATAPI

    Brennen möglichtJa (Laufwerk von Apple geliefert)

    Cachet2048 KB

    DVD lesentJa

    Beschreibbare CDt-R, -RW

    Beschreibbare DVDt-R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW

    SchreibstrategientCD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO

    MedientUm die verfügbaren Brenngeschwindigkeiten anzuzeigen, legen Sie ein Medium ein und wählen dann ?Darstellung? > ?Aktualisieren?.



    HELP!
  • Reply 10 of 46
    Mine died on Leopard. I had Will Ferrell Best of Saturday Night Live in the drive, but it wasn't playing at the time. Then I put the machine to sleep (MBP 4,1 2.4Ghz, Matsushita Drive.) When it woke up, the drive just made all kinds of noise and ejected the disk. From then on, it would randomly eject disks without mounting and wouldn't burn anything.

    Sent in for AppleCare, got a new drive and all is well again, although the drive they put in HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N, is noisier than the old one. At least it works. Got SL, and no troubles yet.

    AppleCare is a mandatory purchase with notebooks especially. This one got a new LED screen as well, although the dude told me it was the inverter that was the problem. At least the screen was done that day in store. The Superdrive problem cost me a week without my laptop. Good thing I got a mini too
  • Reply 11 of 46
    Even before the install of Snow Leopard (which I did with an external LG SuperMulti that: reads/writes cd's, dvd's and "nice" Blurays BD-rom/ram/rw) my MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875 failed!



    This mac, an early 2008 iMac with 4GB of DDR2-800 Mhz and a 3,06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, was bought on 08/05/08 (August, 5th '08 @ 5:17pm GMT+1 exactly) without AppleCare.

    (which, considering EU consumer laws we don't even need, since the EU protects us far longer than Apple's default 1 year (limited; factory) warranty and in a lot of cases even also longer than the 3 years you get with AppleCare.)



    Back to the faulty SuperDrive (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875):

    So I got the mac in August 2008, then after just three months it stopped reading any CD's, both legit audio cd's (such as Beatles' "Anthology" serie) and CD-r/rw's, in about another month or so later it stopped burning them.

    Then onto DVD's:

    That's a funny story: when I inserted a blank DVD or a movie, it started reading it and after some 30 secs spit it out, but putting it back in repeatedly, would recognize the DVD after about 4 tries.

    Eventually (± 2 or 3 months later) it stopped accepting them altogether too.

    It has not accepted any discs, whatsoever since

    And, no amount of "normal" cleaning, CD/DVD Laser Lens cleaners (disc w/ tiny brushes) or a (ESD save) compressed (canned) air i.e gas duster has helped.
  • Reply 12 of 46
    Superdrive on my PowerMac dual G5 is wonky: will play and burn CDs just fine, but won't mount or play any DVDs. Very annoying....



    If I got myself a replacement Superdrive, is it something that's fairly straight-forward to install by myself? I'd rather not have to take it in to my authorized service dude, 'cos it would be a huge hassle to unhook my G5 from my studio...not to mention the unbearable downtime without my G5....
  • Reply 13 of 46
    I had the same issue happen to me just a couple of days ago.



    My Macbook Pro 4,1 DVD Drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N) could read DVDs but would not burn ANYTHING. I tried burning a regulard CD, a DVD and then a DL-DVD. Nothing would burn and I'd get a "media read error".



    After searching on google for possible solution, I found an easy solution: CLEAN THE DVD DRIVE LENS!!!



    Go buy yourself one of those CD/DVD lens cleanser for $5-$12. The cleaning CD/DVD has little brushes on them so when you put it in your drive, the CD/DVD will spin and clean the lens. Run it once.... and done! You should be able to read/burn again.



    Alternatively, try one of those dust cleaner air cans and gently blow inside your drive. Only press half way b/c the pressure of the can might be too much for the inside of your CD/DVD drive.



    It should clean your lens enough and your CD/DVD drive will work just fine.



    Hope it works for you guys. I'm just happy that mine works great again
  • Reply 14 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ITotem View Post


    I had the same issue happen to me just a couple of days ago.



    My Macbook Pro DVD Drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N)could read DVDs but would not burn ANYTHING. I tried burning a regulard CD, a DVD and then a DL-DVD. Nothing would burn and I'd get a "media read error".



    After searching on google for possible solution, I found an easy solution: CLEAN THE DVD DRIVE LENS!!!



    Go buy yourself one of those CD/DVD lens cleanser for $5-$12. The cleaning CD/DVD has little brushes on them so when you put it in your drive, the CD/DVD will spin and clean the lens. Run it once.... and done! You should be able to read/burn again.



    Alternatively, try one of those dust cleaner air cans and gently blow inside your drive. Only press half way b/c the pressure of the can might be too much for the inside of your CD/DVD drive.



    It should clean your lens enough and your CD/DVD drive will work just fine.



    Hope it works for you guys. I'm just happy that mine works great again



    I had the exact same problem with my MacBookPro 3,1 after a firmware update for the drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N) about a year, year and a half ago. I read the same thing about cleaning the lens and used one of my cans of Dust Remover and it seemed to do the trick for about 2-3 months. Then all of a sudden my MBP just spat out the burned DVD in my drive and will not recognize or read burned CD/DVD/DVD-DLs anymore, nor blank media at all. Oddly enough it seems to recognize retail DVD movies just fine and music CDs too. I was planning on buying one of the new MBPs now that the hard drive thing was fixed, but after reading the new ones have the same problem, I'm not so sure anymore. I wish they would just own up and either replace them or fix the problem. If you check the Apple forums, they don't even acknowledge the problem and if you take it to an Apple Store, they want $300+ to replace the drive.
  • Reply 15 of 46
    gdcgdc Posts: 8member
    I have had a similar problem. My new 13" MBP, bought when they came out recently, just started to fail to recognise optical media. I took it into the London Mac Store where it inconsistently responded fine to CDs (music and blank), but not DVDs, including, 'hilariously', a new Snow Leopard install disc! It's booked in for a replacement next week, but reading what I have, I'm not so confident that the problem won't occur again. I'm using an HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    I haven't had too many problems with my HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N but there are only certain discs I can burn. But I've had this problem with my G5 so I'm not sure what the issue is.



    I'm about to upgrade to Snow Leopard from Tiger, so hopefully my drive (and everything else) will work after the install.
  • Reply 17 of 46
    I've seen some people have had success with running Windows on their Macs and then updating/downgrading (not sure which) the firmware with firmware for similar PC drives after a little tinkering, but I personally was not able to get it to work.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by moo-shu cereal View Post


    I haven't had too many problems with my HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N but there are only certain discs I can burn. But I've had this problem with my G5 so I'm not sure what the issue is.



    I'm about to upgrade to Snow Leopard from Tiger, so hopefully my drive (and everything else) will work after the install.



    You mean a particular brand of optical media? If so, what brand works? I believe I've tried Sony & Memorex without success but if it's just the brand of media that is the problem, I wouldn't mind trying a different type versus a $300 repair.
  • Reply 18 of 46
    I have this problem with discdrives on Apple hardware since I first bought my mac in 1999 of the 6 machines I had so far 3 of them got a disc drive failure. It's actually the only problem I ever had with Apple hardware, their disc drives suck as none of them was used other than upgrading the OS, or installing some software. Let's keep it at maximum use rate of 10 read and one written DVD in a year. My former MPB had the same problem and knowing I would run into troubles with snow leopard sold my old one en bought a new one. Oh the old one still read some DVD's and some music dvd's but not double layered DVD's anymore so when the guy that bought my old MBP tested the surperdrive with a DVD but I knew he wasn't being able to install snow leopard, he should have tested it with an install DVD. So people wanting to buy second hand macs, be sure to test the superdrive with an install DVD because.
  • Reply 19 of 46
    Quote:

    Reports of dead SuperDrives on Apple's Macs have been cropping up





    My Superdrive died on my MacBook Pro and luckily it was still under AppleCare.





    I simply option booted off my external Firewire clone, grabbed any latest files and 7x erased the original boot drive before taking it in to the local Apple Store.



    When I got it back, with a new drive, I zeroed the internal drive and reversed cloned from backup.





    Why you ask?



    1: The computer may never come back and god knows where my important and name tagged iTMS music files will end up.



    2: Apple is good, the employees can be bad and opportunist.



    3: Any malware/rootkits on Apple's machines didn't get transferred to my machine.





    Less it infected the keyboard firmware. Oh sh*t...









    UNDOCUMENTED LAST RESORT TIP





    Sometimes no matter what you do you can't get a disk to eject from a Superdrive because OS X has to read the thing first or something.



    If you tired EVERYTHING documented (including rebooting with mouse button/trackpad button depressed) you might want to resort to this desperate measure. (use at your own risk!)



    While the disk is spinning apply gentle pressure to make it stop/slow spinning, the Superdrive will spit out the disk out.
  • Reply 20 of 46
    I had the same issue with my refurbished 15" MBP 5,1 out of the box. The drive would make the initializing noise at boot, except alot more than normal. After some troubleshooting, I simply opened Disk Utility and after a few seconds of that familiar initialization sound, my drive has worked fine.
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