[VertigoBob]

Hi guys, first off I'm new here as you can tell, along with a first-time Apple owner (although I have plenty of experience with Apple's from school, FCP editing in TV Productions, etc) so anyway, here's the problem - my Powerbook was delivered in the mail yesterday, seemed to be working like a charm, and after a couple of hours of configuring the Powerbook and then playing around with it, I decided to watch a DVD - no problems, the combodrive simply purred like a kitten and presented no problems.


However, later in the day my mom started bugging me to move out of the den and into my room, so I disconnected all the wires (USB mouse, ethernet, power cable) put the Powerbook to sleep, closed it, then moved it carefully (didn't turn it on its side or anything) into my room, setting it down gently on my desk...so anyway, enough rambling, I went to insert a CD today to load some software for my Elph digicam, and the combodrive was LOUD - I mean you could hear all sorts of clicking, the motor whining like crazy, the whole shebang - I figured maybe I should just let the system cool off, so I shut down the computer, left it off for a good ten minutes, then rebooted and tried again - same problem, same loud combodrive.

I've had other laptops, and NONE have seemed this sensative to one movement (a laptops CD-drive shouldn't be THIS freaking sensitive)


This is REALLY not acceptable for merely my second day of ownership, I'm gonna call Apple's Tech Support tommorow and see if they can help me out, but in the meantime do any of you have any ideas or past experiences that could be of help? Thanks for listening to my woes, hopefully Apple can help me tommorow also...

[Ryan1524]

hm, my Superdrive has always been loud when there's disc in, i can definitely hear it spin Loudly. i wonder if this is normal now.

how loud is loud??

[VertigoBob]

well, I dont know how to quantify the loudness - all I know is that on day one, it was nice and quiet, now its MUCH louder - I can hear the comdodrive assembly when its positioning the CD, reading the CD, spinning the CD much more that on the first day

[Ryan1524]

all i can hear is the loud ca-chunk as it takes in the disc and positions it. after that, it's usually just a loud humm of spinning.

[VertigoBob]

hmmmmm...well if more people have replies similar to yours, maybe I am just hearing it more than I did before?

[kafoochy]

What you did could not have damaged the drive. Don't jump to conclusions and remember that Apple doesn't actually make the optical drive, someone else does and makes similar drives for Dells, IBM, Toshiba's, etc. Firstly the drive is much quieter if you are only reading a DVD and playing it in Apple's DVD player. I suggest trying to watch another DVD. Some discs that I have can make the drive mechanism (on my Matshita Superdrive) make noticeable sounds, but they are rare. I just tested two CD-Rs without any problem. Firstly, if you call Apple, they will say that it may be the discs that you are using. I'd try as many discs as you can (DVDs and CDs) including the Apple discs that came with your computer. Secondly, are you close to a store that sells Macs so that you can compare the sound and drive model? Did you use any CDs before you watched the DVD to say if this has been occuring since you got the computer? Goodluck and be patient. BTW, what drive do you have? In order to find out, you can go to the System Profiler in the Applications->Utilities folder or click "More Info" in the "About This Mac" Apple menu item. Then click on ATA and you can find the manufacturer of your drive..

[Ryan1524]

oh btw, i just tried, and with a DVD movie, it doesn't make that loud humming spin noise. only when i put in my CD-R movies with DivX AVIs in them.

[d.fine]

Originally posted by Ryan1524:
all i can hear is the loud ca-chunk as it takes in the disc and positions it. after that, it's usually just a loud humm of spinning.

Same here

[wei]

no problem for mine too, but it will get louder when i insert an old and bad disc. the drive trying hard to read it. once its mounted, everything just fine. At normal read & write, I won't say its loud as I doesnt notice it when i use iTune at 3/4 volume at the same time.

if your CDs has no scratches. then you should consider to send it to apple.

[VertigoBob]

Originally posted by kafoochy:
What you did could not have damaged the drive. Don't jump to conclusions and remember that Apple doesn't actually make the optical drive, someone else does and makes similar drives for Dells, IBM, Toshiba's, etc. Firstly the drive is much quieter if you are only reading a DVD and playing it in Apple's DVD player. I suggest trying to watch another DVD. Some discs that I have can make the drive mechanism (on my Matshita Superdrive) make noticeable sounds, but they are rare. I just tested two CD-Rs without any problem. Firstly, if you call Apple, they will say that it may be the discs that you are using. I'd try as many discs as you can (DVDs and CDs) including the Apple discs that came with your computer. Secondly, are you close to a store that sells Macs so that you can compare the sound and drive model? Did you use any CDs before you watched the DVD to say if this has been occuring since you got the computer? Goodluck and be patient. BTW, what drive do you have? In order to find out, you can go to the System Profiler in the Applications->Utilities folder or click "More Info" in the "About This Mac" Apple menu item. Then click on ATA and you can find the manufacturer of your drive..

I tried another DVD today, it seems to be much quieter once the movie gets going (doesn't seem to be accessing the disk as much) however the loading mechanism / disk positioning seems to still be louder than originally - as for CD's, it seems any CD where it needs to be accessed a lot has the loud whirring issue - I'm not sure if maybe the acoustics of my smaller room is coming into play, but I'm planning to go to CompUSA tommorow and see if a similar 15" AlBook has the same noisy combodrive...

[kafoochy]

Originally posted by VertigoBob:
I tried another DVD today, it seems to be much quieter once the movie gets going (doesn't seem to be accessing the disk as much) however the loading mechanism / disk positioning seems to still be louder than originally - as for CD's, it seems any CD where it needs to be accessed a lot has the loud whirring issue - I'm not sure if maybe the acoustics of my smaller room is coming into play, but I'm planning to go to CompUSA tommorow and see if a similar 15" AlBook has the same noisy combodrive...

So does the noise come with every CD you've tried? If there is a CompUSA around you, I'd suggest checking the model of your drive before you go and check what model the store display is. Bring some discs of your own that you know makes the noise on your system. Does the mechanism noise ever come when copying files to the hard drive? If so I'd suggest trying to copy something from the CD to computer on both and timing to see if yours is slower. If your drive is having a problem which restricts performance, it would be easier to convince Apple to have it replaced.
I've seen some interesting security devices at some CompUSA stores, so hopefully you'll be able to bring and insert your own disc.

[boysss]

You guys gotta listen to my old Dell Inspiron 1100 optical drive b4 judging the loudness of apple's

[urrl78]

If you guys are putting the same brand out of the same box into your drive you may get the same noise everytime. Sometimes whole batches of CDs can be bad. A certain batch of FUJI CD's would jam and not eject from my 0ld 17" until I held the laptop horizontally by the right corner, pressing upward on the bottom of the laptop. Found out later that any other CD or DVD except that box of FUJI CDs would work fine. So if your CD's are making a loud noise when spinning and another brand does not, chances are the bad CD has its weight off center and thus vibrates when spinning. If this turns out not to be the case then DON'T wait; have it checked at an Apple store as soon as possible and don't bother with phone support if you can avoid it. Why? Because the genius at the store can make a record of your laptops exterior condition and if it comes back from the repair center banged up or damaged they can't tell you thats the way it looked before they got it after it was sent to a repair center. In fact you may have to request they inspect and make a record of the exterior condition of your laptop.And yes; they have a form for this to fill out. Trust me on this. You may be sorry if you don't.

I have had CD's vibrate on me but it was just that; the CD and not the drive. Not saying you don't have a mechanical problem though, you could.

[VertigoBob]

thanks for the help, I found that there is an Apple Store at Tysons Corner, its about 30 mintues from me but I'll go there if the combodrive is truely acting up and its not just me noticing it more...

[leucas]

While I was transferring my collection of CDs to iTunes I found one disk which made a strange sound... turns out the center hole is not round. I never heard the sound while playing it in a normal CD player but iTunes spins it faster and the oblong hole let it wobble slightly.

[wei]

i always have bad feeling using custom die-cut CDs on mac. I normally turn to a 'peecee' to rip those nasty disc.

[rag on a muffin]

many CDs are often unevenly made, which results in the discs making a loud noise in your drive. this usually happens when you first insert the dvd, or wake up the computer, because it speeds up the disc to the highest speed. your table could also be amplifying the sound.

i would not worry about the noises that the drive makes, considering how bad some of them are.

those uneven cds can be fatal to higher speed drives, one of my friends had a 52x drive that had an uneven cd that exploded in his drive. had to buy a new one.