Rev A iMac CD problem

specialkbdcspecialkbdc
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hey folks



I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to bring back a tempermental CD player to life for a few months. I have been having problems with my CD player for well over a year, it only seems to want to load a CD about 1 out of every 100 attempts.



Unfortunately I need to have my CD player working for the next couple months and after that I will be at home with a working computer so I just need a temporary solution. I have tried using a CD cleaning disk before, which worked okay, but now I can't even get that to load.



Does anyone know of some miracle band-aid fix that could help me get through the next couple months?



Thanks in advance

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    allinoneallinone Posts: 279member
    You don't give much in the way of detail on what the behavior is.



    But in order to upgrade anything in that machine you have to disconnect the CD.



    Maybe you installed RAM and didn't get the connection in properly?



    Unscrew the main plastic panel and disconnect and reconnect the cables that you see (i think the CD is the fat round one but I can't remember exactly).



    Probabaly won't work but it just might...
  • Reply 2 of 7
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    this is probably a stupid question, but did you ever do the firmware updates for the rev. A iMac? i know it was supposed to fix issues with the cd player.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    specialkbdcspecialkbdc Posts: 36member
    AllInOne



    Thanks for the reply man, sorry if I didn't describe the problem very well. Basically what is happening is that the CD won't spin and either nothing happens when I put the CD in causing me to have to eject it with a pin or a box comes up saying that the disk is unreadable by this computer, with the option to initialize or eject the disk.



    It still works once in a blue moon, but right when I need it the most it is not working for me.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    specialkbdcspecialkbdc Posts: 36member
    Alcimedes: Ummm this is going to be awkward. I never did the firmware updates, nor did I ever hear anything about them. For someone that spends as much time as I do on my computer, reading about Apple products and all the rest of it, this could be pretty embarrassing.



    But better to be mortified and have a working CD player - finally a glimmer of hope! Where can a fella get these updates?
  • Reply 5 of 7
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    if you go to the control panels, then to software update, that should eventually give you the firmware update.



    (it will probably require that it update itself first)



    if you can't find it there, search apple's web site for it, somewhere in the tech info area. if you still can't find it, let me know and i'll see if i can hunt it down.



    just be sure to read the instructions carefully while updating. firmware updates are about the one and only time where screwing up can make a mess of your machine, although i've yet to have anything bad happen to me.



    hope this helps, and don't feel bad. the reason i mentioned it is 'cause it's easy to forget.



    -alcimedes
  • Reply 6 of 7
    specialkbdcspecialkbdc Posts: 36member
    Alcimedes - Thanks a lot for your help, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, the problem wasn't anything to do with the firmware and I think it is a physical problem with the CD drive.



    Trolling around on the internet, I have found some people with similar problems to mine that have fixed them by blowing canned air or something into the CD player?



    So I will give that a try, as my beautiful iMac is one step away from being a piece of furniture.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    b.i.lb.i.l Posts: 30member
    They have iMac CD drives at macparts.com for $99. You could probably find them cheaper.
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