[eyadams]

I'm stumped. Since installing the 10.5.4 I can't play commercial video DVDs on my G5 (1.8 GHz single, first generation). I put a disk in, the SuperDrive thinks about it for 15-30 seconds, and then spits it back out. No error messages are displayed, and there's nothing in the console logs. Disk utility never sees the disk.

I tried rebooting, repairing permissions, regular user, Administrative user, completely new user, different DVDs. Data DVDs load fine, data CDs load fine. Music CDs, blank CDs and DVDs, home made DVDs all load and behave correctly. Only commercial DVDs are failing to mount and play.

Any ideas?

[Cold Warrior]

Download and install the combo updater.
Apple - Support - Downloads - Mac OS X 10.5.4 Combo Update

Combo updaters often fix problems like this.

[eyadams]

Tried the combo updater, and things have actually gotten worse. Now my home made DVD doesn't play, either. I can still mount data DVDs.

[Cold Warrior]

Use VLC - VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS! - to try to play the DVD. If it works then you know its not the drive but software related.

Have you recently installed anything else along with the 10.5.4 upgrade, such as firmware or other software?

[eyadams]

I would use VLC, but the problem is the disks aren't even mounting. The behavior is exactly like if you put a disk in upside down - the player spins the disk for a while, and then spits it back out.

I'm starting to suspect it's a hardware problem. I may still have AppleCare on this, and if I do I'll make a trip down to my Apple Store.

[Cold Warrior]

You said data discs mount, so that seems to minimize the chance that it's a hardware issue. Another option is to archive-install (or install 10.5.0 on an external drive and boot from that) to see if it is indeed software-fixable.

[eyadams]

I have to amend my earlier diagnosis: some data DVDs mount, but not others. Doom 3 mounts, but unfortunately the Leopard install disk does not. I can't even boot from the Leopard install disk.

More and more it's looking like a hardware problem to me. I've read in other forums that older SuperDrives can have trouble with double layer disks; I'm willing to bet that's the case here. I'll try and remove the drive later today and clean it to see if that makes a difference. If not, I'm pretty sure I can get a replacement for around $30.

[eyadams]

One final follow up. I bought a Pioneer DVR-115D from Other World Computing, put it in, and now everything is working perfectly. So for me it turned out to be a hardware problem, and the upgrade to 10.5.4 was just a coincidence. My drive had probably failed a while ago, but I hadn't noticed because I don't play videos too often.

Thanks to all who helped.

[cybergoober]

Hmmmm, this is troubling because I am seeing similar issues recently. I have no data DVDs to test with, but commercial DVDs eject themselves after attempting to mount.

I don't watch many DVDs on my laptop, so I have no idea if this began with 10.5.4 or not. I happened to be on travel last week and took some DVDs with me to kill the boredom.

I originally updated to 10.5.4 with the Combo Updater (I always use the Combos, FWIW). I haven't gotten around to trying to troubleshoot this yet, nor had I thought to post about it.

I really hope it's not the drive since there's absolutely no way I can afford to replace it right now, nor in the foreseeable future. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend to try some different things (I have a few FireWire drives that I can use to boot from, and an external SuperDrive).

Specs:
PowerBook G4 High-Res 1.67 GHz; 160 GB HDD; 1 GB RAM; Dual-layer SuperDrive; Mac OS X 10.5.4

[AKcrab]

You can get a new drive for $99 from OWC. Getting into your PowerBook is pretty simple, and OWC provides pdf's on how to do it.