[ShortcutToMoncton]

Hello, have a Core2 Duo 2.2ghz Macbook Pro (2 gigs, 120gig HD, etc.). Anyways, haven't noticed any significant problems with the DVD drive – I watch movies all the time on DVD. So I wanted to reinstall Snow Leopard because I've been having some slowdowns, put my DVD in... waited, waited, spun, then spit it out. Again.

I figured "oh maybe you need Leopard installed first or something?" and put in my Leopard disc... same thing, spun and bit, then spit out with no error message.

I said "FETCH!" and figured my drive was gone. I stuck in a DVD... and DVD Player popped up and it played, no problem. A CD was also fine.

Anyone know what gives? Is this a DVD drive problem? Do the Installation discs require a more reliable drive and not open if the drive seems suspect or anything? I'm confused, help!

Thanks
greg

[reader50]

When a DVD drive is weakening, one of the signs is having trouble accessing the 2nd layer. Try to play a movie DVD from a dual-layer disc. Any movie in the 2.5-4 hour length range will use dual-layer discs. Example: the Lord of the Rings extended editions. Extended versions of other movies will often qualify too.

Try to access chapters near the end of such movie discs, see if the drive takes a long time to load them, or outright fails.

[turtle777]

Also, my failed DVD drive started failing burning DVDs.
Does yours still burn w/o a problem ?

-t

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Hmmmm don't know if I have any dual-layer DVDs... that sounds like a reasonable answer though. Crap crap! Last thing I want to do is have to put in a new DVD drive into this old(er) computer....

greg

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Arrrgh... any recommendations on a replacement drive?

Snow Leopard is really acting up on me – getting a ton of spinning beach balls ever since I installed it - and I need to clean and reinstall before the semester starts rolling.....:s

greg

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Well I took the most technical of steps, as learned from the original Nintendo: I blew into the drive.

The result? After a 20-second delay, it now recognizes MacOS X install discs. But when I click on "Install" and then try to restart from the DVD (because I want to do a clean install), it just ends up restarting normally and ejecting the disc.

Sigh.

greg

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton 

Last thing I want to do is have to put in a new DVD drive into this old(er) computer....

If your drive really is about to go then you can buy an external DVD drive and use that until your computer dies or until you replace it. They cost around $50 which I believe is cheaper than replacing the internal drive.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Yeah, that's what I've been looking at. I might just have to go external. I don't know; my power cord also just started to fray and needs to be replaced, so it just annoys me to spend close to $150 on this thing when I'd probably be replacing it this year anyway...

greg

[tonton]

Unfortunately, the dust doors on these slot-loading drives are far from perfect.

Most likely, the fix for your drive is a simple one. No need to replace the drive. Just use a drive cleaning disc. If that doesn't work, open up the machine and clean the lens with a q-tip moistened with lens cleaning solution.

[amazing]

How about blowing compressed air into the slot? Can't hurt at this point, can it?

[shabbasuraj]

Originally Posted by amazing 

How about blowing compressed air into the slot? Can't hurt at this point, can it?

nah just open that thing ... easy..