HELP !!! The CD burner is DEAD !!!!

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HELP !

The CD-RW burner, internal to my G3/500, is dead.
No sound from it: if I get a CD in it, no noise, it won't "eat" the CD. No electric reaction, it's [xx(].

I'm under warranty up to Dec. 20th. I can ask for replacement... BUT THEY WANT TO ERASE THE HARD DRIVE TO DO THIS !!!

So three solutions:
1) I don't call the warranty guy, I buy a $100 FireWire RW burner. Advantage: I'll burn faster. Inconvenient: solution 2 would be better...
2) I buy a $200 FireWire external HD, and I get the data on it, then send the computer. Advantage: I have a new HD, and a repaired burner. Inconvenient: I won't have $200 in time...
3) I call the guys, I lose all my data, I have a repaired burner.

Solution 1 is possible.
Solution 2 is impossible (though...)
Solution 3 is inacceptable.

Any help ?! ideas ?! Many thanx for any answers. And if you know someone with a cheap external HD (40Gb minimum) for Macintosh (FireWire), tell me !!!

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I was told to make a fsck on my disk...

Could someone help me achieve this ?
I have XDarwin on the disk, so I logout, I select "Other" user, I type in ">console" as name, I'm in Darwin:

Now when I type "fsck -y" nothing happens ! Help.

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Okay, I worked out FSCK on my own. Nothing changed.

- Reboot without Extensions: no change
- PRAM zapping: no change
- fsck: no change
- Rebuild desktop: no change

Isn't there some prefs file[s] I could erase before being persuaded this burner is really dead ?

BTW, thanx for all your help, all of you, thanx.

[ByerlyRips]

Nothing like having a conversation with yourself......

Anyways, why the hell would they want to erase your hard drive just to repair/replace your burner? That doesn't make sense. If they can't fix it without erasing your drive then call Apple and complain.