[Senior Member]

We've just had this computer for 3 days and already I've broken it!
I just put an Illustrator installer disc in the side slot, when there was already a disc in it. No icon appeared on the desk top and the loader willingly sucked it in. Now I can't eject either of them and it keeps going through the motions of trying to pop them out. Give me a tray loader anytime. ANyone have any ideas?

[solbo]

Not good. Something is seriously wrong to begin with because it shouldn't have tried to eat them both.

Call Apple.

Or take the thing apart.

[tooki]

It should be completely impossible to insert a second disc -- as soon as one disc is loaded, the drive blocks off the slot.

Did somebody force the second disc in?

Is it possible that there's really just one disc in it, and that Mac OS just forgot to remove the icon for the first one from the desktop?

What steps have you taken so far?

Slot-load drives have an emergency eject button at one end or the other of the slot. Take an unbent paper clip and put it at the end of the slot and press down. If it feels like a button, good, if not, try the other end. If the drive isn't mechanically damaged, it should come out.

tooki

[11011001]

So, by going through the motions of ejecting it, do you mean that it mechnically tries to, or the OS just tries too?

In the case of the OS, you can use something like the eject on the iTunes window that will often eject a disk that you can't eject from the finder, or another application using the keyboard eject button.

[Senior Member]

Originally posted by tooki:
It should be completely impossible to insert a second disc -- as soon as one disc is loaded, the drive blocks off the slot.

Did somebody force the second disc in?

Is it possible that there's really just one disc in it, and that Mac OS just forgot to remove the icon for the first one from the desktop?

What steps have you taken so far?

Well, no it wasn't forced. It readilly accepted the 2nd disc.
I've already called Apple and they seem to think the drive was defective in the 1st place. It's not my computer, it's my bosses, so I guess I'll let him handle it form herre. I've tried the panic eject button and everything. I know it has 2 discs in it, cause the other one is now missing and the last time I used it was shortly before this episode started.

[Senior Member]

Originally posted by 11011001:
So, by going through the motions of ejecting it, do you mean that it mechnically tries to, or the OS just tries too?

Yeah, I mean mechanically. It just keeps going through the mechanical cycle of trying to eject.

[Spliffdaddy]

Insert a playing card about halfway into the slot - and angle it upwards, so you get it above the CDs that are stuck. Then try to eject the disks. I had the same problem with a Dell laptop...that is, it swallowed 2 CDs. The CD on top was getting stuck just above the slot, and needed a little help to get it out of the slot. The playing card acts as a guide to prevent the CD from jamming above the top of the slot. It never swallowed 2 CDs again after I managed to get 'em out.

It's worth a try. The CDs aren't as stuck as they seem to be.

[Senior Member]

The playing card may have helped, eventually. I poked around with a card and nothing happened. But later in the day, when my boss was getting it ready to take to a tech, the little F'er just popped out on it's own.

How it happened and how it was resolved is still a mystery!

THanks for all your suggestions. THis is why I always come here 1st when I have a question.

[tooki]

I'd take two AOL CDs (or some other useless discs) and put one in, and then attempt to put in a second one. It should literally block off the slot, such that you can't insert a second disc even 1/4 inch. If it doesn't block it off like that, the drive is defective and needs to be replaced.

tooki

[Senior Member]

Originally posted by tooki:
I'd take two AOL CDs (or some other useless discs) and put one in, and then attempt to put in a second one. It should literally block off the slot, such that you can't insert a second disc even 1/4 inch. If it doesn't block it off like that, the drive is defective and needs to be replaced.

tooki

Yeah, that makes too much sense. But my boss is an F'ing idiot .
He's lived for years with half assed beige machines and sacrifices productivity for a couple bucks of expense. He'd never go for replacing drives, even if it was covered on warranty.

[tooki]

What expense, pray tell, would getting the drive replaced under warranty incur?

tooki