# cd drive stuck iMac G4



## Mr_Spencer (Jul 10, 2008)

My son's asked me to fix the CD drive on his G4 iMac. It very rarely opens when you press the 'eject' button. I'm wondering if it's just a build up of dust, so I was wondering if anyone's had experience of this, and how easy it is to access the drive.


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## Hughvane (Jul 10, 2008)

Mr_Spencer said:


> My son's asked me to fix the CD drive on his G4 iMac. It very rarely opens when you press the 'eject' button ... wondering if anyone's had experience of this, and how easy it is to access the drive.



FWIW - I was astonished to see a Mac technician apply a small amount of CRC (WD40) spray to the cogs of the tray mechanism of my G3. Powered graphite is a good lubricant for moving parts within an electronic environment - just be sparing and careful.

This may help you - see 3rd & 4th photos, you can clearly see the CD drive and how to get at it.
http://xlr8yourmac.com/systems/iMac_g4/imacg4_takeapart.html


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Jul 10, 2008)

If I recall correctly, you must hold down the eject button for 1/2 a second or more in order to activate the eject procedure.

Are you simply "tapping" the button, as if you were typing, or are you holding it down until the eject icon appears on the screen and the optical drive door ejects?


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## Mr_Spencer (Jul 11, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. The eject button definitely isn't working, though you can hear that the tray is trying to open. I shall have a look at it over the weekend with reference to the link posted and hope a clean with an air spray and a spot of oil will fix it.


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## sunshineje (Jul 12, 2008)

Mr_Spencer said:


> Thanks for the advice. The eject button definitely isn't working, though you can hear that the tray is trying to open. I shall have a look at it over the weekend with reference to the link posted and hope a clean with an air spray and a spot of oil will fix it.


 
Mac G4 cd drawer is partially open with a cd in it. Eject button won't work, any ideas on how to open the drawer in order to remove the cd?


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## Hughvane (Jul 12, 2008)

sunshineje said:


> Mac G4 cd drawer is partially open with a cd in it. Eject button won't work, any ideas on how to open the drawer in order to remove the cd?



Is the tray far enough out to get a grip on the front or side edge(s)? If so, you can pull the tray out, gently but firmly. Just don't tug at it.

Your other option is to use the good ol' straightened paper clip to poke into the little hole you see below the base of the tray. Doing so should 'force eject' the tray. You'll need to hold the hinged cover down with one hand to see and get at that hole.


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## Mr_Spencer (Aug 2, 2008)

Well we finally got around to taking the iMac apart using the info in the above link. Got the CD drive out and found the black plastic catch above the door was out of place. We got it moving freely, put everything back together again, booted up and pressed the eject button. The door slid out. Pressed the button again and back it slid. Perfect. Until we put a CD in - the Mac thought about it for a short time then spat it out. Same with other discs. So any ideas? Have we missed a connection or something? We'll take it apart again but it would be nice if anyone had any ideas as to the cause.
Thanks to all above for your help.


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## DeltaMac (Aug 2, 2008)

With the problems that you have been having, the drive has probably failed.

I think you get to take the iMac apart again, and replace the drive with one that works. You can find a large variety of burners that will work, for around $30 
Here's a couple that will work with a lot of Macs.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical-drives/superdrives/powermac/


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## DICKSTER (Aug 7, 2008)

Deltamac is correct-I had the exact same problem on my ppc g4-5years old. ordered a new drive and all is working great now. be careful on some of these vendor web sites. their info. can be inaccurate as to what comes with the drive.--personal experience some what bad just last week.


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## Mr_Spencer (Aug 11, 2008)

Final episode (I hope). 
My son's workmate gave him a DVD writer which he said worked, but wouldn't work in the case for some reason. We took it out of the case and it looked the right size, so we removed the old CD drive, installed the DVD writer (screw holes were in just the right place, though we had to google to find out how to take the front bezel and front of the tray off) and put it all back together. Switched on and got the old blinking question mark. Back into the Mac to check connections and noticed the slave/master pins were set differently. I told my son to move the plastic connector along to the next pins, reassembled it, switched on and it reads and writes DVDs. My son's happy as he's got an upgraded iMac, and I get loads of brownie points for thinking about the little bit of plastic!
Many, many thanks for all your contributions.


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## VirtualTracy (Aug 11, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the happy ending with us Mr_Spencer


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