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RMXO · Dec 20, 2002, 03:20 AM

my GF finally took the Apple plunge. she finally decided to pick up an iBook after going through hell with Apple.

her problem is she cant eject the CD tray on her iBook. she tried pressing F12 & holding it down for a period of time. only way for her to eject is to use a paperclip. when she first booted the laptop, she set the keyboard layout to Canada-US. keyboard layout should have nothing to do with the Eject button right? anyone have this problem before?

since she got the iBook last nite she hasnt updated her system yet, since she doesnt have a router to connect to the net yet. will have to wait til morning for her to update her system at her dad's house.

we are gonna try updating the system tomorrow, if she still has this problem after the update then she will take it to the store she got the iBook from.....

motti · Dec 20, 2002, 01:53 PM

Originally posted by RMXO:
my GF finally took the Apple plunge. she finally decided to pick up an iBook after going through hell with Apple.

her problem is she cant eject the CD tray on her iBook. she tried pressing F12 & holding it down for a period of time. only way for her to eject is to use a paperclip. when she first booted the laptop, she set the keyboard layout to Canada-US. keyboard layout should have nothing to do with the Eject button right? anyone have this problem before?

since she got the iBook last nite she hasnt updated her system yet, since she doesnt have a router to connect to the net yet. will have to wait til morning for her to update her system at her dad's house.

we are gonna try updating the system tomorrow, if she still has this problem after the update then she will take it to the store she got the iBook from.....

does the drive make any sound when pressing F12?
does it work alright except for this problem?

milhouse · Dec 20, 2002, 03:07 PM

What OS is she using?

You always have the option to boot to Open Firmware and open the CD tray this way and to reset the OpenFirmware to see if that helps.

Hold down the apple + option + O + F keys as the iBook starts up. You'll boot to a black screen with text. Let go of the keys.

Type "eject-cd" (no quotes). Hit enter.

It should open the CD tray and you can insert the CD you need to use.

Close it manually.

Reset OpenFirmware while you are in that screen in case there was some corruption preventing the F12 key from working properly by typing
"reset-nvram" (without quotes).
Hit enter.
Then type "reset-all" (no quotes). Hit enter.

The iBook should reboot and hopefully you should be able to use the CD normally.

HTH

RMXO · Dec 20, 2002, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by motti:

does the drive make any sound when pressing F12?
does it work alright except for this problem?

everything works on her laptop except eject (f12) & nope it doesnt make any noise....

RMXO · 03:40 PM

Originally posted by milhouse:
What OS is she using?

You always have the option to boot to Open Firmware and open the CD tray this way and to reset the OpenFirmware to see if that helps.

Hold down the apple + option + O + F keys as the iBook starts up. You'll boot to a black screen with text. Let go of the keys.

Type "eject-cd" (no quotes). Hit enter.

It should open the CD tray and you can insert the CD you need to use.

Close it manually.

Reset OpenFirmware while you are in that screen in case there was some corruption preventing the F12 key from working properly by typing
"reset-nvram" (without quotes).
Hit enter.
Then type "reset-all" (no quotes). Hit enter.

The iBook should reboot and hopefully you should be able to use the CD normally.

HTH

she is using OS X.2. hasnt done any system updates since she cant connect to the net until she gets to her parents house.

after trying to get my GF to follow these steps over the phone. i gave up. told her to take it to the shop she got it from. trying to provide Tech support over the phone to a girl who happens to be PMSing bigtime isnt fun & can be deafing to ones ears....

oh well, once she stops she will be kissing ass to make it up....

where can find info on this? since i have a phone interview for a part time PC/mac support. would like to know this info for my interview just in case he ask me something like this. wasnt able to find info on this on Apple support Page....

milhouse · Dec 20, 2002, 04:16 PM

Originally posted by RMXO:

she is using OS X.2. hasnt done any system updates since she cant connect to the net until she gets to her parents house.

after trying to get my GF to follow these steps over the phone. i gave up. told her to take it to the shop she got it from. trying to provide Tech support over the phone to a girl who happens to be PMSing bigtime isnt fun & can be deafing to ones ears....

oh well, once she stops she will be kissing ass to make it up....

where can find info on this? since i have a phone interview for a part time PC/mac support. would like to know this info for my interview just in case he ask me something like this. wasnt able to find info on this on Apple support Page....

I think info like this may be in Apple's developer docs. They are on your Mac if you installed the DevTools (provided 'free' with the retail version of Jag and also available online on Apple's developer site. Info is not super easy to locate IMHO so dedicate some time.

Also read info posted on the sites/forums at ARStechnica.com, Macnncom, xlr8yourmac.com and macosxhints.com.

There are probably some very good books available from O'Reiley too.

Good luck. (...with the interview and the PMSing GF.

)

ThisGuy · Dec 20, 2002, 05:25 PM

Does the CD Drive show up in Apple System Profiler?

alien · Dec 20, 2002, 05:42 PM

Does it the CD drive open from within iTunes?

How about fn+F12?

RMXO · Dec 20, 2002, 06:37 PM

thisGuy:

not sure. didnt think of that lastnite since i was getting railed by my PMSing GF on her Apple experience so far...

alien:

no it doesnt. only way to eject is with paperclip.

once my GF gets home from XMas shopping im gonna ask her to try a few things. gonna ask her to update to 10.2.3 also. forgot to ask her to eject while a CD is inside by pressing F12. i know she can right click on the CD icon on the desktop & select eject....

why cant the CD tray when there is nothing in there & can eject when there is a CD in....

i feel bad for my GF. ever since she decide to switch, only good thing so far is that she loves how the iBook looks & how nice the sales ppl was at the store she got it from....

RMXO · 06:03 PM

status update:

thanks milhouse. resetting the OpenFirmware did it. she had to do it a few times. she forgot to hold onto the keys until the white screen popped up..

my GF is happy now.

sillyrabbitt · Dec 21, 2002, 09:24 PM

Originally posted by milhouse:
What OS is she using?

You always have the option to boot to Open Firmware and open the CD tray this way and to reset the OpenFirmware to see if that helps.

Hold down the apple + option + O + F keys as the iBook starts up. You'll boot to a black screen with text. Let go of the keys.

Type "eject-cd" (no quotes). Hit enter.

It should open the CD tray and you can insert the CD you need to use.

Close it manually.

Reset OpenFirmware while you are in that screen in case there was some corruption preventing the F12 key from working properly by typing
"reset-nvram" (without quotes).
Hit enter.
Then type "reset-all" (no quotes). Hit enter.

The iBook should reboot and hopefully you should be able to use the CD normally.

HTH

my cd player started acting up and wouldnt open either and now it will not even work at all.

do you think the above is worth a shot in my case or the cdrw is toast?

THANKS!

RMXO · Dec 21, 2002, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by sillyrabbitt:

my cd player started acting up and wouldnt open either and now it will not even work at all.

do you think the above is worth a shot in my case or the cdrw is toast?

THANKS!

is it worth a shot? why dont you try it out. you have nothing to lose. it worked for me, so you might get lucky & work for you. best of luck.....

dagmar · Dec 21, 2002, 11:32 PM

From the great folks over at Macfixit. com:

Failure to recognize internal CD-RW drive.
As we initially reported yesterday, Mac OS X 10.2.3 completely disabled the internal CD-RW/DVD combo drive on our in-house Power Macintosh G4/733. Not only is the drive not recognized in iTunes and Toast - delivering the message "CD burner or software not found" - but the drive refuses to respond to the keyboard eject button, rendering it useless.

Several MacFixIt readers, including John, confirmed the issue:

"I have a Power Macintosh G4/933 with a SuperDrive and a 500 MHz iBook Combo drive. The eject button will not even work. I had to boot into Mac OS 9 to get things working."

Thomas Emmerich experienced similar with Toast and iTunes, but retained the ability to open his CD-RW/DVD drive. After inserting a pre-recorded disc (not blank) into his system and then ejecting it, Toast and iTunes regained their ability to recognize blank CD-Rs. So at least in some cases, it appears inserting a pre-recorded CD can "wake up" improperly functioning drives

digitalmustard · Dec 22, 2002, 03:13 AM

thanks for the info...but it didnt work. my cdrom is toast. bringin it back to the apple store it is like a week old.

jcv · Dec 23, 2002, 03:07 AM

That happened to me with my 700MHz iBook. The drive worked just fine when CDs or DVDs were inserted, but I had to use a paperclip to get the drive open (and usually that took a few attempts).

I lived with it for a few months, but then my video went kaput so when I sent it back to Apple, I also let them know about the problem with the drive.

They replaced it (and my display works again, too!).

Good luck.

andretan · Dec 23, 2002, 03:35 AM

If it refuses to open, reboot the machine holding down the mouse button.

RMXO · Dec 23, 2002, 04:33 AM

Originally posted by andretan:
If it refuses to open, reboot the machine holding down the mouse button.

what does this suppose to do?

ccsccs7 · Dec 23, 2002, 06:20 AM

Originally posted by RMXO:

what does this suppose to do?

It ejects any media in the drive. I know I've used it for floppies (pre "i-" computers), but CDs?

ThisGuy · Dec 23, 2002, 10:11 AM

Originally posted by ccsccs7:

It ejects any media in the drive. I know I've used it for floppies (pre "i-" computers), but CDs?

Yes, it works for CD's as well.

andretan · Dec 23, 2002, 10:17 PM

Originally posted by RMXO:

what does this suppose to do?

Yeah, it ejects any media in your drive at startup.

Merry Xmas

RMXO · Dec 23, 2002, 11:59 PM

coool. didnt know that. thanks.

pbjudge · Mar 11, 2003, 11:38 PM

I have similar problem as RMXO described on i iBook 600 with a combo drive, but not of the standard fixes suggested have worked.

It is strange because I am able to eject a CD/DVD from an app, but when the drive is empty and I want to open it, pressing the F12 key for several seconds dose NOT do it.

I can open it using a paperclip and, strangely, it will open when I press BOTH the F12 key and the CONTROL (apple) key.

So I know it is not a case of a bad key on the board....

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

- Patrick

RMXO · Mar 12, 2003, 12:00 AM

Originally posted by pbjudge:
I have similar problem as RMXO described on i iBook 600 with a combo drive, but not of the standard fixes suggested have worked.

It is strange because I am able to eject a CD/DVD from an app, but when the drive is empty and I want to open it, pressing the F12 key for several seconds dose NOT do it.

I can open it using a paperclip and, strangely, it will open when I press BOTH the F12 key and the CONTROL (apple) key.

So I know it is not a case of a bad key on the board....

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

- Patrick

Pat,

after awhile i got the same problem again & my GF didnt want to always have to reboot to pop out the CD. so i did a fresh install & for the default language i chose US-English. the Eject button now ejects the CD everytime.

not sure if this is related but i found out when using English-Canada KB language, the Eject key didnt work unless it was on US-English. so you might want to try that out. change the language to US-English if it isnt already there.

pbjudge · Mar 14, 2003, 09:25 PM

Thanks for your advice RMXO. But I wanna save reinstalling for the last option. I am now on 10.2.4. and I would have to go back to 10.2 (the discs I have) and work forward. But I checked and I am running in US-English now.

For the time being, I am using the key combination of CONTROL & F12 to open the drive. It works, but it is just not as elegant ast simply using F12.

Thanks anyway. I will post a new message if I find the solution.

- Patrick