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milhous · Apr 10, 2001, 04:16 AM

My pismo is less than six months old now and it really irriates the hell out of me concerning the problems I have with my DVD module.

I.
When a disc is not present in the drive, bumping the drive when it's closed will inadvertently open the tray. I have tried this numerous times to confirm the problem WITHOUT touching the eject button.

II.
Whenever I place a disc in the drive, sometiimes, the drive will immediately spit the disc out without have the system reading/recognizing it. I always make sure that the disc is properly seated within the drive.

III.
The drive seems to have tremendous difficulty reading discs that were either burnt on CD-R or professionally stamped discs. Sometimes, I have to eject the drive and push the disc tray back in several times for it to start reading and spin up the disc. Haven't had any problems with DVD's though.

IV.
I seem to be hearing a lot of "grinding noises" whenever the cd has to spin back up after being idle. It actually seems that the drive is have severe trouble with reading the disc.

I have tried using a disc cleaning solution in that it may be due to a dirty lense, but it doesn't seem to rectify any of the issues. Have any of you folks out there experienced anything similar to this and if so, how has Apple handled the solution? After I get some commentary on this subject I will give Apple a call.

Just one more thing.... since I have never called AppleCare before and I'm sure many of you have, what can I expect from them and are they going to put me through a lot of hassle and crap? I am an Information Science major and would really like to talk to someone that is knowledgeable and knows what the hell they're talking about. Any advice or suggestions on how to handle these people would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. - One more thing and I'll shut up. I'm seeing in the lower left-hand corner screen darkening in which i can still see the mouse when I move it in the darkened area, but it just seems to be dark. I think it may be due to the backlight in that part of the screen. It's no big deal, but I don't think I should expect to see something like this from a new product that's less than six months old. How would you think Apple would deal with something like this? Any commentary at all would be superb. Thanks again.

tooki · Apr 10, 2001, 12:34 PM

Well, I've never sent in a PowerBook for a broken DVD drive, but from general experience, the people who work at AppleCare are quite knowledgeable, and generally quite friendly. Just be aware that they are required to go through a checklist of procedures (did you pull out and reinsert the drive? Did you reboot the machine? Did you try a different disc? -- I'm making those up, but that's the type of thing they must ask). Let them get through the crap (they think it's silly, too) and they'll hook you up pretty quickly.

tooki

NewPismoOwner · Jun 2, 2001, 01:16 AM

Originally posted by milhous:
My pismo is less than six months old now and it really irriates the hell out of me concerning the problems I have with my DVD module.

I.
When a disc is not present in the drive, bumping the drive when it's closed will inadvertently open the tray. I have tried this numerous times to confirm the problem WITHOUT touching the eject button.

II.
Whenever I place a disc in the drive, sometiimes, the drive will immediately spit the disc out without have the system reading/recognizing it. I always make sure that the disc is properly seated within the drive.

III.
The drive seems to have tremendous difficulty reading discs that were either burnt on CD-R or professionally stamped discs. Sometimes, I have to eject the drive and push the disc tray back in several times for it to start reading and spin up the disc. Haven't had any problems with DVD's though.

IV.
I seem to be hearing a lot of "grinding noises" whenever the cd has to spin back up after being idle. It actually seems that the drive is have severe trouble with reading the disc.

I have tried using a disc cleaning solution in that it may be due to a dirty lense, but it doesn't seem to rectify any of the issues. Have any of you folks out there experienced anything similar to this and if so, how has Apple handled the solution? After I get some commentary on this subject I will give Apple a call.

Just one more thing.... since I have never called AppleCare before and I'm sure many of you have, what can I expect from them and are they going to put me through a lot of hassle and crap? I am an Information Science major and would really like to talk to someone that is knowledgeable and knows what the hell they're talking about. Any advice or suggestions on how to handle these people would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Did you ever talk to Apple Care? Have you solved this problem? This is pretty much the exact same problem I've been having with my Pismo 500 CD/DVD. It's really starting to get on my nerves but I don't want to have to pay $$$ to get it fixed. If it looks like it's going to cost me $$$, I'll just get a CD-RW Firewire for only $$.

atomium · Jun 2, 2001, 09:01 AM

milhous-

Went through DVD problems with my Pismo 500, too. Apple sent me a new drive, and life is much better now. Some details of the ordeal were covered here on this thread:
http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/Foru...ML/001759.html

Hope this helps.

-atomium

Edited for typos.

[This message has been edited by atomium (edited 06-02-2001).]

milhous · Jun 4, 2001, 02:54 PM

ahhh. excellent.

since it's been more than 90 days since having my pismo, i either must pay $49 to talk to applecare or go to an apple service provider. i think that policy blows. since i'm taking finals right now, i think i'll wait till i get home in a few days and get it taken care of.

if apple wants to keep its customers happy and loyal, they better start extending warranties and make it comperable to that of dell and what not who will rectify issues immediately.

Raman · Jun 4, 2001, 08:31 PM

I had a similar problem with my DVD module. Unfortunately I talked to probably the WORST CSR that I've ever dealt with in my life who kept telling me that Outpost sold me a used Pismo that was 6 months old, even though I paid for a new one. She couldn't fathom the fact that my Pismo was manufactured 6 months ago and had been sitting on the shelf until I powered it up.

Anyway, they sent me a replacement DVD module 2 day air, free shipping, etc.. I paid 0. It happened about a month or 2 after I purchased my Pismo. It stopped reading CD's of any kind but would read DVD's fine every time I put one in - both in data mode and in Apple DVD player.

I thought that if it was a hardware problem then they wouldn't charge you for the call. You can always get Applecare, which I plan on doing in a few months since I know that my Pismo500 will be in use for a good 3-4 years since it kicks so much butt.

Good luck on your finals..