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Street · Jun 22, 2006, 02:24 PM

Hi

I've just installed a new Pioneer 111 drive in my G5 tower (10.4.6) and am having some problems. The drive will recognise and mount CDs, but if I insert a DVD (blank or otherwise) it just spins it round for a while and then spits it back out again.

Has anyone else had this problem and come up with a solution, or should I assume the drive is faulty and send it back?

Cheers.

olePigeon · Jun 22, 2006, 02:32 PM

I believe you need a free patch utility called PatchBurn. This is supposed to make it so you can use the drive, at least until Apple adds official support for the device.

Street · Jun 22, 2006, 02:41 PM

Hey

Cheers for the link - tried it, unfortunately to no avail.

The drive is listed in system profiler, so I'm pretty sure I've installed it correctly and that the cables are all properly plugged in etc.

Maybe I should wait for the forthcoming x.4.7 update with the hop that that may solve it?

Tom.

olePigeon · Jun 22, 2006, 02:51 PM

Try zapping the P-RAM. Rebbot your computer, and right after the chime hold down Apple-Option-P-R as it reboots 3 more times, then let go and let the computer boot normally.

Street · Jun 22, 2006, 03:27 PM

Nope, no help!

Thanks for your suggestions though - most appreciated.

Tom.

angelmb · Jul 4, 2006, 04:05 PM

Hi, I have installed the same model, a Pioneer DVR-111 (black bezel) in my 1.25 GHz G4 MDD (dual drive), the machine immediately recognized it as a "Superdrive" without using any special driver -patchburn-. So I have a dilemma… while the Menu item aimed to open/close the optical units shows it as the aforementioned 'SuperDrive', Apple System Profiles says Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)…

If I a insert a blank DVD, the Mac OS shows the by default option, to choose an app to open it… I can see Toast supporting it and I was able to erase a dvd-rw with the Finder… I have not yet tried it with any iLife app like iDVD… so, what would I expect from that scary Yes (Unsupported) feature?

angelmb · Jul 4, 2006, 04:09 PM

BTW, this is with 10.4.6, the Pionner firmware is 1.19 as you can read in the image above.

Street · Jul 5, 2006, 08:05 AM

As far as I am aware, the Yes (Unsupported) means that it will work.

I ended up returning my drive for a replacement one - I managed to get it to read one DVD once (but it didnt when I ejected it and re-inserted it) and it stopped reading CDs - am waiting for the replacement one to arrive.

Tom.

angelmb · Jul 6, 2006, 08:27 AM

I think it just means that Apple has not tested such burner model, but it is going to work as you say, I have just did it with a DVD-RW disc.

Maybe your DVR-111 was somewhat defective, are you getting the same model as replacement?

angelmb · Jul 7, 2006, 03:22 PM

Update: iDVD 6.0 likes it