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jasong · Dec 16, 2004, 11:13 PM

Hi all, I am running OS X 10.3.7 (this issue is not 10.3.7 related, it was also happening under 10.3.6). The CD-ROM drive will happily load data CDs, but music CDs are ignored. If I boot into OS 9, the music CD loads and plays fine. This is a store bought CD, not a homemade one (I have tried numerous CDs, all data CDs work, no music CDs do). The drive just spins a bit and then sits there. The only way to eject the CD is to open disk utility which shows the CD-ROM drive without a mounted disk (and no option to mount). I can select the CD-ROM drive and choose eject. I have repaired permissions and rebooted, logged in as root, created a brand new user and logged in as that.

This is a generic OS 10.3.7. Just last week I wiped the drive clean, installed 10.3 and then all the updates. Absolute new installation, no archive and restore or anything. There isn't a single program on there that isn't installed by default with OS X 10.3. All stock hardware even.

Any suggestions?

-- Jason

JMII · Dec 17, 2004, 10:44 AM

My G4 sometimes chokes on CDs that have interactive content for Windows installed on them, so check that. Also try launching iTunes and connecting to the internet before inserting the CD. The Mac might be looking for the database to find the track names and hangs up when it doesn't find it.

JKT · Dec 17, 2004, 11:51 AM

Is the disk actually labelled as a "Compact Disc" on its surface or casing at all? If not it isn't a true CD by Philips' definition and more than likely has some form of DRM to protect the contents. This DRM is designed specifically to stop music CDs from being copied on any computer and a consequence of this is that they will not mount on a Mac*. If it is a DRM protected disc and you bought it in music store under a selection labelled CDs I suggest you take it back and ask for a refund as they have sold you something under false pretences.

* That doesn't explain why it works in OS 9 however... oops.

jasong · Dec 17, 2004, 12:04 PM

Thanks for both replies. These are plain old vanilla music CDs. I have tried 20 CDs, ranging from brand new to 10 years old. Every single one works in OS 9 (and on another OS X machine), but will not mount in OS X. The computer is connected full time to the internet. The computer just will not mount a music CD. Data CD is fine.

A couple of people on macosxhints forums seem to be having the same problem, but no solution yet.

Anyone else?

-- Jason

JKT · Dec 17, 2004, 12:10 PM

Bizarre. Do you have the same problem under other user accounts?

jasong · Dec 17, 2004, 12:14 PM

Yup, like I said, I tried logging in as root, no go. I created 2 brand new user accounts (one admin, one not admin) and neither worked.

-- Jason

JKT · Dec 17, 2004, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by jasong:
Yup, like I said, I tried logging in as root, no go. I created 2 brand new user accounts (one admin, one not admin) and neither worked.

-- Jason

My apologies, I'm a bit knackered and I overlooked that in your original post. I'm all out of ideas...

tooki · Dec 17, 2004, 07:23 PM

My hunch is that somehow the CDDA ("Compact Disc Digital Audio", the official name for audio CDs) filesystem extension got (to use the technical term) "borked".

Do you have another Mac OS X machine nearby?

On the working one, go to /System/Library/Filesystems/ and copy the cddafs.fs folder to the sick Mac. Then replace the sick Mac's copy with the healthy copy. (You'll need to be root to do this.) See if that helps.

If you don't have another OS X Mac around, I'm sure somebody here can zip it and email it to you.

tooki

jasong · Dec 18, 2004, 08:58 AM

I had the same thought. I copied over all of the filesystem extensions from my PowerBook, repaired permissions and rebooted. The only difference is that when the CD-ROM shows up in Disk Utility, it shows up before my firewire drive instead of after.

Anyone else?

-- Jason

himself · Dec 18, 2004, 12:13 PM

Originally posted by jasong:
Any suggestions?

-- Jason

zap pram?

Boondoggle · Dec 18, 2004, 12:43 PM

Are you useing a Firewire drive?

jasong · Dec 18, 2004, 03:59 PM

PRAM has been zapped multiple times.

The CD-ROM drive is the stock ATA drive. I have an external firewire drive hooked up for additional space. I have tried with the firewire disconnected and have the same problem.

The processor spikes for a few moments after inserting the CD, while the drive is spinning up. Is there any way to find out what's going on in those few moments?

-- Jason

bmedina · Dec 18, 2004, 04:36 PM

Try opening up Console.app (in /Applications/Utilities) and inserting a CD. If the OS outputs any error messages, they'll be displayed there.

jasong · Dec 19, 2004, 03:39 PM

Yeah, I looked there before posting. Nothing.

-- Jason

Big Mac · Dec 19, 2004, 06:58 PM

Archive and Install?

jamil5454 · Dec 19, 2004, 08:32 PM

First, open up Terminal.app and type:

"sudo mount -d"

This will give you a list of all mounted devices on your system. Look to see if your cdrom has mounted the music CD(it should have a read-only flag). Then,
after you insert the disk try(in a Terminal)

"sudo mount /dev/[your cdrom device here - usually disk1s0] /Volumes/cdrom"

without the parentheses. Try mounting the disk manually.

jasong · Dec 19, 2004, 10:42 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. The command does not show the CD-ROM drive, so the mount command doesn't work. I am able to get the disk ID from Disk Utility but even using that info, the mount command still doesn't work.

This is really very weird.

-- Jason

drissa · Jan 28, 2005, 02:00 PM

This sounds like the 10.3.7 disk mount problem. I'm investigating it now and came across this.