external cd drive not recognized

[mjbjohn]

I just acquired a macbook that is running 10.4.11 and which has a optical
drive that no longer reads cds/dvds. I bought an external cd drive in order to
load snow leopard but the cd drive does not show up on the desktop.
The cd drive is a panasonic which is supposed to be compatible with mac os x.
The drive came with 2 usb cables one for data and one for power, both are plugged in. I don't know what the problem is or where to proceed from here.
This was supposed to be simple.
Thanks

[DeltaMac]

The drive doesn't do much of anything unless you have a disk in the drive.
When your external drive plugged in to your MacBook, click on the Apple menu, and choose About this Mac, and then click on the More Info button.
That should launch the System Profiler.
Click on USB from the list on the left. You should see your external CD drive listed as a USB device.
If you have a disk in the drive, click on the CD drive listing, and you should see information about the disk, too. And, you should see that disk appear on the desktop.
That's assuming that the finder settings are set to show a CD. That might even be turned off in the Finder Preferences.

[mjbjohn]

I opened system profiler and looked under usb but the device is not shown.
I have put in a cd but it doesn't show up on the desktop. Finder preferences are set to indicate that cds are to show up on the screen when loaded. What am I missing?
Thanks

[DeltaMac]

Try your external drive in a different computer. It doesn't have to be a Mac, and you need to find out if it does work on another computer.

It's also possible that the drive just doesn't get enough power from the USB ports. You would usually get a message that there's not enough power (or the device requires more power - or something similar to that).

[mjbjohn]

i tried it on my neighbors pc; both usb cables plugged into the powered usb hub and the computer immediately recognized the device. I tried plugging the usb data cable from the device into my laptop and the usb power cable into my powered usb hub and I get nothing. I am stumped.

[DeltaMac]

Did you try other combinations of the two USB cables?
Power direct from the laptop, and data in the hub.
Both cables direct into the laptop.
Also (I have seen this work, though it makes little sense) plug both cables into the hub, with the hub power disconnected, and only the usb data from the hub to your laptop.

Does the drive seem to have power?

[mjbjohn]

Tried all that. Thought it might be the hub so bought a new one; no change.
Tried it again on my neighbors pc and it works fine. The box says pc/mac compatible; perhaps it isn't. Still stumped.

[DeltaMac]

Keep in mind that the drive doesn't do much unless you have a CD/DVD of some kind, allowing the Mac to try to mount a disk.
That will be different from using the drive in a PC, where you can see the drive, likely even without a disk in the drive.

You didn't answer - Does there appear to be power on the drive when you plug the drive into your Mac? (Does the tray open and close, or if a slot-loading drive, can you insert and eject a disk? If there is a drive activity light, does that do anything when you insert a disk?)