# DVD and Blu-Ray drives not working since 10.9 (Mavericks)



## gtackett (Nov 9, 2013)

I have an Apple Superdrive and an LG Blu-Ray burner (both internal) in my "Early 2009" Mac Pro 8 core system. They were working until, a few days ago, I updated to OS X 10.9 from the most recent OS X 10.8.x.

Now, although they eject upon command, they don't recognize any media. When media, blank or written, is loaded into either drive, the drive spins for a few seconds. After that the Superdrive ejects the media, whereas the Blu-Ray drive just sits and does nothing.


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## DeltaMac (Nov 10, 2013)

Have you tried commercial optical disks, such as DVD movies, or music CDs (from original disks - not burned on CD-R or DVD-R, etc)?

Have you tried disconnecting one of the drives, leaving the Apple SuperDrive in place, for example?

What does System Information tell you about the drives under "Disk Burning", or "Serial-ATA" categories?


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## gtackett (Nov 11, 2013)

I've tried at least three different commercial disks (one of which was an OS X distro DVD, the others music and software CDs) but neither drive recognizes them.

I'll try disconnecting the Blu-Ray next time I power the system down.

Here's what *System Information* tells me. For each drive I merged the _Disc Burning_ and _Sata_ sections.

*HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH08LS20:*
  Firmware Revision:	2.00
  Interconnect:	ATAPI
  Burn Support:	Yes (Generic Drive Support)
  Profile Path:	None
  Cache:	4096 KB
  Reads DVD:	Yes
  CD-Write:	-R, -RW
  DVD-Write:	-R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
  BD-Write:	-R, -RE
  Write Strategies:	CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
  Media:	To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose File > Refresh Information
  Model:	HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH08LS20                
  Revision:	2.000000
  Serial Number:	H9N9AEG0217         
  Native Command Queuing:	No
  Detachable Drive:	No
  Power Off:	No
  Async Notification:	Yes
  Bay Name:	Upper

*HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N:*
  Firmware Revision:	PQ05
  Interconnect:	ATAPI
  Burn Support:	Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
  Cache:	2048 KB
  Reads DVD:	Yes
  CD-Write:	-R, -RW
  DVD-Write:	-R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
  Write Strategies:	CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
  Media:	To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose File > Refresh Information
  Model:	HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N            
  Revision:	PQ05    
  Serial Number:	F5014DB13CD4        
  Native Command Queuing:	No
  Detachable Drive:	No
  Power Off:	No
  Async Notification:	Yes
  Bay Name:	Lower


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## Cheryl (Nov 11, 2013)

Wondering - if you need to update the firmware and/or drivers for the Blu-Ray.


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## Satcomer (Nov 11, 2013)

Also Reset Your SMC to see if it helps.


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## DeltaMac (Nov 11, 2013)

I'm curious to find out if disconnecting one of the drives allows the other to read disks.


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## gtackett (Nov 13, 2013)

I finally got around to powering off my Mac Pro.

I disconnected the 3rd party Blu-ray burner and powered back up. The Apple SuperDrive still ejects immediately any media I load (blank DVD-R, factory produced music CD, already burned DVD-R, etc.).

So I powered down again, left the Blu-ray disconnected, reset the SMC, and reset the PRAM. Still no better.

The only thing left is to disconnect the Superdrive, reconnect the Blu-ray, and see if that works. I don't expect it will, but the only way to find out is to try.


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## DeltaMac (Nov 13, 2013)

Be sure to try booting your MacPro to your original OS X installer DVD - could be Leopard or Snow Leopard.
If  you try booting to Leopard, you need to have the original DVD (if you kept that), or any Snow Leopard installer should boot your MacPro.
Remember that booting to an OS X DVD may work - and you should try that, even though the DVD doesn't want to mount when you are booted to MavX.


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## Satcomer (Nov 15, 2013)

I wondering if gtackett had any update. I just find it weird that drives are detected but not playing anytime all  or even spinning drives up to be mounted. My 2008 2.8 Dual Mac Pro on 10.9 plays both my DVD internal drives and sometimes I use an external Firewire 800 Blu-Ray (Pioneer BD-RW 206D using the external case) and I can even play/watch Blu-Ray movies using the Blu-ray Player.

So I puzzled about  gtackett's predicament on his 2009 Mac Pro.


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## gtackett (Dec 8, 2013)

Sorry for the delayed response. I've been getting ready to change jobs. Now that is done with but Christmas still awaits so time is limited.

We've already tried resetting PRAM and the SMC, so moving on from there:

I know for certain that the drives are rotating the media at least a small distance--when ejecting media, it isn't in the same rotational position as when I loaded it. It's hard to be absolutely certain that they spin any more than that, but I suspect they do.

Using system's original Superdrive (third party Blu-ray disconnected):

Can't boot from this system's original distribution DVD (Leopard 10.5.6). Like _any_ media I try in this drive, the drive makes some noises and the tray opens up.
After boot from hard disk (10.9) it can't access any type of media--blank, factory pressed, or burned at home. No matter what I load, the drive just unloads after making some noises.

With just the Blu-ray connected (Superdrive disconnected), the only thing different is that the drive doesn't unload automatically.

In Toast Titanium 11's Recorder Settings window you can watch the media-loaded status of a drive. The sequence is the same for either drive:

Tray open --> "Status: No Disc"
Insert media, close tray --> "Status: Waiting..."
Some sounds from drive, then --> "Status: No Disc"
(SuperDrive only) Tray automatically reopens

Last of all, (with power off) I unplugged the Blu-ray's SATA cable and connected one from a loose SATA hard drive. *This drive works normally!*

Whatever's wrong, perhaps it has something to do with optical disc media sensing. Since the problem appeared to start with Mountain Lion and affects both drives, software would seem the most likely cause--_except that it can't boot from distribution media._

The only caveat to that is that I hadn't used either of the drives for two or three weeks before installing 10.9. Still, it seems unlikely for them both to develop the same problem at the same time.


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## josegrad (Oct 31, 2014)

Hi gtackett, did you ever found a fix for this issue? I recently upgraded from Snow Leopard to Mavericks and just today I found that my recorded DVD-R are being rejected. CDs are ok. Really annoying thing.


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## Satcomer (Nov 4, 2014)

Have you all you affected BluRay drives are you all connecting via an internal data cable or as an external? I ask because when back in 2008 I tried using BluRay internally on my Mac Pro and it did the same thing you are describing that U.S. happening. That is why I put the BluRay drive in an external case and it started acting normally. Maybe their is something in OS X that doesn't support BluRay using Sata connections.
thus all happened to my in Snow Leopard and Mavericks. So since then I just used it as an external and it has been running fine. That is why I posted my first response.


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## josegrad (Nov 5, 2014)

@Satcomer I just found that the DVDs work fine on a different machine. So it must be the HW. Internal/external data cable? Well this is the standard Mac Book pro mid 2009, as far as I know everything is still inside, so it must be internal 
The strange thing is that CDs play properly, but not DVDs.


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## DeltaMac (Nov 12, 2014)

josegrad said:


> ... I just found that the DVDs work fine on a different machine. So it must be the HW. Internal/external data cable? Well this is the standard Mac Book pro mid 2009, as far as I know everything is still inside, so it must be internal :)
> The strange thing is that CDs play properly, but not DVDs.




You are probably correct. An optical drive can partly fail, allowing you to do certain tasks (CDs), but maybe not others (DVDs)
I have seen this occasionally. It's the drive hardware. Replace your optical drive to fix that.


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