[Will C]

I have a second gen. slot loading iMac DV and have a very occasional problem with just odd CDs out of about 50 - all the others seem to fine including DVDs videos. Before you blame the CDs read on...
I had a magazine cover disk which would take ages (>2 minutes) to mount and then ages to open any folders or files, I could hear the read head moving back and forth continuously - eventually I gave up thinking 'Oh does not matter', even though it would read perfectly on a friend's iMac.
I recently bought Norton Utilities 6.0. The CD for this loads then comes out again 5 seconds later - there are no error messages.
I tried it in a friends iBook and a powermac 233 without a problem.
Anyone any suggestions? - I believe I have all the DVD/CD driver updates.

A couple of things:

First, some cds will spin off balance causing a loud buzzing noise and also may prevent a cd from loading or cause it to load very slowly. These cds often have a lot of ink on them, meaning the entire face of the cd has a picture.

Second, there have been firmware updates released recently for the iMac cd/dvd drive. Check it out at apple's site.

Finally, I believe there is software available from apple that slows the cd/dvd drive to improve compatibility/vibration issues. I don't know what it's called. Anyone?

I hope this helps and good luck.

[Will C]

Thanks for the tips.

I had already tried all these things, and since my iMac is out of warranty, I stripped it down and had a look at the DVD/CDROM drive.
Unfortunately, I could shift the smallest screws, and so I just reassembled it all.

My iMac now can read the Norton CD - not every time, but once it has mounted, it works just fine.

So if anyone else has a similar problem , just keep loading the CD until it mounts, even if it takes 120 times.