Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Carnage Visors · Nov 13, 2003, 11:46 AM

Okay, I have just received a new g4 ibook, its a fantastic machine, but something isn't quite right.

DVDs work, data CDs work, but nothing when I insert an audio CD.

The drive spins up then stops.

Any ideas at all, could it be an issue with panther?

I think the drive is working properly as when I have a look in the System Profiler i see this for the CD drive:

Capacity: 178.44 MB

And as this is a CD single, It looks sort of right.

Benjamin

creatif · Nov 13, 2003, 12:28 PM

I've seen some talk about this on other forums, so it must be a more common problem than it should be. General consensus seems to be that if you re-install Panther from scratch, and the apps, it's all fine.

Haven't got my iBook yet, so I wouldn't be able to recommend how you do this, but I'm hoping it's fairly easy.

pks1850 · Nov 13, 2003, 02:00 PM

Originally posted by creatif:
I've seen some talk about this on other forums, so it must be a more common problem than it should be. General consensus seems to be that if you re-install Panther from scratch, and the apps, it's all fine.

This seems odd, since if it is a new G4 iBook, Panther came pre-installed. I'm not sure how much you would gain reinstalling the OS... but what do I know, I've only had a Mac for a few weeks.

When I get home I'll have to plop in an audio CD to see how things go. I know DVD playback isn't a problem. My wife swiped my iBook the other night to watch Notting Hill on the comfort of our couch while I flipped through ESPN.

And just to clarify... are you talking about a retail audio CD, or one you burned?

moonsocket · Nov 13, 2003, 02:30 PM

did you do the update? that works for some

dracoleb · Nov 13, 2003, 03:04 PM

I read this, reached over and grabbed an audio CD, slid it in to my iBook G4, it showed up on the desk top, queried the data base for track names, then came up on iTunes, no problem. Just in case you wanted to know

Carnage Visors · Nov 13, 2003, 09:01 PM

I will give this a go. That is reinstalling panther.

Its a bit of a pain but I will do that now and report back if it doesn't work.

Oh and one thing I forgot, this occurs with retail CDs, and ones I have burnt, I also checked with non music CDs just to check and they work fine, its just a problem with audio CDs.

Thanks again

Benjamin

pks1850 · Nov 13, 2003, 09:24 PM

I got home and plopped in a CD. The iBook recognized the CD immediately and launched iTunes. I'm listening to the CD as I type this.

That being said, not all is perfect. This is my first Mac, so I don't have a frame of reference -- but are all the slot loading drives on Mac laptops this LOUD? It sounded like a small jet airplane was launching on my lap

The constant whirring and noise is somewhat annoying. The constant vibration when the laptop is actually in my lap isn't very appealing either. I imagine headphones would remedy the noise problem... not sure how you'd get rid of the vibrations from the disc spinning.

Carnage Visors · Nov 13, 2003, 09:30 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:
I got home and plopped in a CD. The iBook recognized the CD immediately and launched iTunes. I'm listening to the CD as I type this.

That being said, not all is perfect. This is my first Mac, so I don't have a frame of reference -- but are all the slot loading drives on Mac laptops this LOUD? It sounded like a small jet airplane was launching on my lap

The constant whirring and noise is somewhat annoying. The constant vibration when the laptop is actually in my lap isn't very appealing either. I imagine headphones would remedy the noise problem... not sure how you'd get rid of the vibrations from the disc spinning.

Well I am not sure what's causing my issue, so I am reinstalling panter as we speak

.

One thing about cd noise try a different cd, if the cd itself is slightly out of balance, it can be quite noisy. I know one of my cheaper DVDs does this.

Benjamin

Carnage Visors · Nov 13, 2003, 10:15 PM

Thanks for the help, reinstalling panther helped heaps. now its all good.

It looks like there may be an issue with the default install.

Benjamin

darcybaston · Nov 14, 2003, 09:13 AM

I've been following this on Apple's forums and it seems that reinstalling Panther fixes .dmgs not mounting and unplayable audio cds.

Also, to spare the reinstall, people have reported success with this:

1-drag the user preferences folder to the desktop
2-reboot

I haven't heard if you're supposed to drag it back or just use whatever new folder is created.

MRTrauffer · Nov 14, 2003, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:
I got home and plopped in a CD. The iBook recognized the CD immediately and launched iTunes. I'm listening to the CD as I type this.

That being said, not all is perfect. This is my first Mac, so I don't have a frame of reference -- but are all the slot loading drives on Mac laptops this LOUD? It sounded like a small jet airplane was launching on my lap

The constant whirring and noise is somewhat annoying. The constant vibration when the laptop is actually in my lap isn't very appealing either. I imagine headphones would remedy the noise problem... not sure how you'd get rid of the vibrations from the disc spinning.

I also have not had any trouble with my Combo drive. As for the noise as it's loading, I would think it a normal sound especially with the mechanics involved when loading a CD into a slot drive. I have a slot-loading CD in my car and it makes a similar noise.

So far, I've had no issues with my 14" iBook G4.

darcybaston · Nov 14, 2003, 07:50 PM

The slot loading DVDROM on my iMac DV SE 1999 made a helluva lot of noise. Maybe it's just a slot/cooling thing.

mgl · Nov 15, 2003, 12:19 AM

Just got my iBook G4 today. Same problem, can play DVDs but CDs aren't recognized. I tried a 1987 CD, too, and no go with it. Note: I did not test this before installing 10.3.1, I just upgraded immediately.

Sounds like two suggested ways to fix this. One is to re-install panther, one is to delete user prefs. I'll try the latter first, but where is this issue being discussed other than here?

mgl · Nov 15, 2003, 12:46 AM

Originally posted by mgl:
Just got my iBook G4 today. Same problem, can play DVDs but CDs aren't recognized. I tried a 1987 CD, too, and no go with it. Note: I did not test this before installing 10.3.1, I just upgraded immediately.

Sounds like two suggested ways to fix this. One is to re-install panther, one is to delete user prefs. I'll try the latter first, but where is this issue being discussed other than here?

Okay, tried deleting my prefs folder and restarting. Made no difference, still won't recognize any CDs.

darcybaston · Nov 15, 2003, 01:14 AM

It's also being discussed in the Apple support forums. One thread is here:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

enola · Nov 15, 2003, 02:24 AM

I just picked up a 12" G4 iBook a couple of weeks ago. It didn't have any problems reading audio CD's or mounting .dmg files.

My combo drive is very loud while playing audio CD's. And I don't mean the pops and clicks as the drive engages the CD or whatever the heck it is doing but the entire time the CD is being playing the drive is spinning and it sounds like a jet plane taking off. It's constant and never stops spinning. This is with several different retail CDs.

On the other hand, when playing DVD's the drive is silent except for when the DVD is first loaded up. Then I'm good to go for watching a movie. I don't know why it would behave so differently with the two media; quiet with one and louder than heck with the other.

I never listen to audio CD's on this or the previous iBook I owned. I prefer to rip the tracks to iTunes. I just popped the audio CD in just to make sure it would work since I'd been hearing on various web forums that it might be an issue. Since I use the optical drive mostly for DVD's I'm glad it's at least quiet when it's functioning as a DVD player.

pks1850 · Nov 15, 2003, 10:21 AM

Originally posted by enola:

My combo drive is very loud while playing audio CD's. And I don't mean the pops and clicks as the drive engages the CD or whatever the heck it is doing but the entire time the CD is being playing the drive is spinning and it sounds like a jet plane taking off. It's constant and never stops spinning. This is with several different retail CDs.

On the other hand, when playing DVD's the drive is silent except for when the DVD is first loaded up. Then I'm good to go for watching a movie. I don't know why it would behave so differently with the two media; quiet with one and louder than heck with the other.

I never listen to audio CD's on this or the previous iBook I owned. I prefer to rip the tracks to iTunes. I just popped the audio CD in just to make sure it would work since I'd been hearing on various web forums that it might be an issue. Since I use the optical drive mostly for DVD's I'm glad it's at least quiet when it's functioning as a DVD player.

Yep, exact same experience I had. Playing audio CDs is loud, playing DVDs is nice and quiet. My only guess is that they spin at different speeds, hence the sound and vibration difference.

Good thing I rarely listen to CDs anymore. If the noise occured during DVD playback, I'd probably have to take the iBook back.

enola · Nov 15, 2003, 12:18 PM

Originally posted by pks1850:
Good thing I rarely listen to CDs anymore. If the noise occured during DVD playback, I'd probably have to take the iBook back.

Agreed. I'm glad to know someone else is experiencing the same thing. I'm curious if folks that did do a clean install of their OS to fix the audio CD problem have an optical drive that behaves quieter with audio CD's. Anyone? That might give me motivation to do a clean install on this puppy if it makes a difference.

mgl · Nov 15, 2003, 02:45 PM

I just called Applecare about the problem with my new iBook G4 not playing audio CDs or mounting disk images. They confirmed the problem and in the end recommended that I reinstall 10.3 and not install 10.3.1 again until after the issue is addressed. I just did a clean install and am now ripping my CDs at 7 to 7.5x. Quite a step up from my old iBook 600's ripping speed.

darcybaston · Nov 15, 2003, 03:20 PM

That is a nice speed jump! My fiance's 1.5 GHz Compaq only does about 6.5 without anything else using the computer.

My old iMac DV SE 400mhz couldn't do more than 4 I think. Can't wait for the 14" iBook I ordered! Just a few more days...

*twitch twitch*

darcybaston · Nov 15, 2003, 11:06 PM

Here's another bit of advice to fix the audio CD issue with a factory setup. Got this from the Apple forums:

Remove the file:
Username/Library/Preferences/CD Info.cidb

Haven't read any additional success stories with that one.