Cd/dvd Eject On Mac Keyboard No Longer Works - El Capitan

TuckerdogAVL

TuckerdogAVL

Registered
I use the CD/DVD so infrequently, that today when I had to make a duplicate of an old home movie DVD, I discovered the eject button no longer works. It's a Mac keyboard, El Capitan and a Mac Mini, and an 8 year old DVD burner that works fine (It's actually firewire to lightning) re: burning or playing.

I went into the setup, looked at the keyboard settings and I tried reclicking "use F1, F2, etc as standard " as default. If I have that clicked, then the volume no longer works. Unclicking that box actually has all the Mac Keyboard defaults working... so, back to square one.

I moved where the keyboard was plugged in from a hub directly into the back of the mac mini thinking maybe it was a hub issue.

Finding an answer to this is difficult as 10million answers on how to eject a jammed DVD is easy to find. So, is the answer "the eject button on a Mac Keyboard doesn't work with a third party DVD burner that is 8 years old?"
 
Is your DVD drive a slot-loading, or tray-loading type?
Is the keyboard an Apple-brand or something else? Does it have a Windows key, rather than a command key?
I know that El Capitan and newer has an additional delay on some keyboard commands, so have you tried holding a labeled Eject key for a longer period of time to see if there is any response?
Are you trying to simply open an empty CD tray to insert a disk, or to eject a disk that is already in the drive?

You COULD add an eject icon to your menubar - with this simple tip:
Go to the hard drive/System folder, then Library. Open the Core Services folder, then the Menu Extras folder.
Double-click "Eject.menu". You will see an eject icon in your menubar. Click on that to open your tray.
If a disk is already in the drive tray, then it should be mounted on the desktop. Drag that disk to the trash to eject the disk.

Hope this helps you.
Apologize if I am offering information that you may have already tried.
 
You can command-drag it off. Or, just leave it there. It just sits until you need it next time.
I have one Mac that doesn't like to eject from the keyboard, so I made an alias of the Eject.menu, and moved it somewhere convenient. Your Utilities folder might be a good choice. When you want the icon, just double-click that alias, and ta-da!
If you happen to have TWO optical drives, then Option-clicking on that icon will eject the second drive, rather than the first. Very handy for some (admittedly-limited) uses!
 
Sure wish I could use it, but both of my external optical drives (no internal) have their own eject buttons.
Now I learned 3 things today. Eject in menu bar, how to remove it, and stop experimenting! :)
 
DeltaMac said:
Is your DVD drive a slot-loading, or tray-loading type?

Tray

Is the keyboard an Apple-brand or something else? Does it have a Windows key, rather than a command key?
I should have said Apple brand vs. MAC. Apple branded. Has a command key.

As I say, the problem isn't ejecting. I can eject using various methods. It's just the little arrow key at the top that doesn't do anything.

I know that El Capitan and newer has an additional delay on some keyboard commands, so have you tried holding a labeled Eject key for a longer period of time to see if there is any response?

No, I will try that. Thanks for the tip.

Are you trying to simply open an empty CD tray to insert a disk, or to eject a disk that is already in the drive?
Either. Using the arrow key.

You COULD add an eject icon to your menubar - with this simple tip:
Go to the hard drive/System folder, then Library. Open the Core Services folder, then the Menu Extras folder.
Double-click "Eject.menu". You will see an eject icon in your menubar. Click on that to open your tray.
If a disk is already in the drive tray, then it should be mounted on the desktop. Drag that disk to the trash to eject the disk.

Not worth the effort, but thanks. PS When I stumbled upon "shortcuts" in the systems/setups for the keyboard, just for fun, I tried adding some apps and nothing happens. When I went online to see if I was doing something incorrect I did read, "not all apps will work with shortcuts, doesn't really always work" or something similar, so that seems a hit-or-miss waste of time as well.

Hope this helps you.
Apologize if I am offering information that you may have already tried.

No problem. I'll try holding down the key. Otherwise, Ill just ignore it... It's probably because I need to replace a perfectly good, operating CD/DVD recorder with one that's newer because it needs to be newer. Just like the scanner and printer and software
Click to expand...
 
Your tray-loading drive is external, correct?
So, it has its own eject button to open the tray when it's empty.

If you try the eject icon in the menubar (as I posted), can you open the tray there, too?
(edit - missed your post where you said that works fine :D )

f12 is usually a substitute for eject when there is no eject key on the keyboard.
If your eject key does not seem to be recognized as such, you should try f12.
The eject command usually has a short delay, so hold f12 for a couple of seconds before you decide that doesn't work.
 
DeltaMac said:
Your tray-loading drive is external, correct?
So, it has its own eject button to open the tray when it's empty.

If you try the eject icon in the menubar (as I posted), can you open the tray there, too?
(edit - missed your post where you said that works fine :D )

f12 is usually a substitute for eject when there is no eject key on the keyboard.
If your eject key does not seem to be recognized as such, you should try f12.
The eject command usually has a short delay, so hold f12 for a couple of seconds before you decide that doesn't work.
Click to expand...

yes, I just use it. (the button) it's under the tray so, I open with that, and when I need to close the tray I gently push on it. in fact, just used it.
basically, we're simply trying to figure out why it no longer works, especially at $49.
f12 is the volume control without using fn. I use that more often (especially with YouTube vids) then the need for the cd/dvd eject.
 
right.
I was just curious if f12 would work, when the normal eject button does not.
You would have to hold fn to make that key respond as f12, unless you reverse the function key assignments in the keyboard pref pane (Use all F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys)
That brings up a thought.... Does the keyboard eject key work while you hold fn?
 
Nope.
DeltaMac said:
right.
I was just curious if f12 would work, when the normal eject button does not.
You would have to hold fn to make that key respond as f12, unless you reverse the function key assignments in the keyboard pref pane (Use all F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys)
That brings up a thought.... Does the keyboard eject key work while you hold fn?
Click to expand...
Did try that however.

It's wired, too, the silver Apple keyboard. I think the white one that is two years old on the other computer may still work. Not sure though; I think it's died since El Capitan latest etc.
 
ball_peen_hammer.jpg

Always works for me. . . .

More seriously, I am just amused that this question is perhaps one of the oldest questions in general Mac problems. Way, way back before Seinfeld, the Internet, and Millie Vanillie, the Poor Hapless searched on how to get their disks:

Macintosh-floppy-disk.jpg


remember them?--out of the slot.

That being blathered my "Eject Button" still works for my MacBook Pro as of yesterday. In fact it works when I have it hooked up to my external DVD burner/player since, well, the original internal DVD burner/player likes to be temperamental since about an hour after I got the computer.

[Here he tried to be relevant.--Ed.]

But . . . one thing I noticed a week ago was said external DVD burner/player did not burn--"IO ERROR!!!1!!
freakingout.gif
--and I could not get it to eject the now drink coaster DVD.

I used a DVD player cleaning disk--been burning and able to eject since.
75a26baa.gif


Now why the hell a "dirty" burner would affect the ability of a computer to eject a disk I have no [CENSORED--Ed.] idea. The computer and burning program recognized there was a disk in the external burner.

--J.D.
 
I don't play or burn CDs very often either! I thought that the Eject key on my keyboard had stopped working, then I remembered that Apple changed it a few years ago and you have to hold the key down for a second or two before the disc ejects. Apparently people were hitting the key by mistake and ejecting discs at the wrong moment.
 
sgould said:
I don't play or burn CDs very often either! I thought that the Eject key on my keyboard had stopped working, then I remembered that Apple changed it a few years ago and you have to hold the key down for a second or two before the disc ejects. Apparently people were hitting the key by mistake and ejecting discs at the wrong moment.
Click to expand...
Tried it and it just doesn't do anything. No big whoop. The little button on the DVD/CD player/recorder works fine. Maybe it's because it's a firewire/400-800/lighting adapted and the keyboard is usb. The reason I keep it is that it was a Writemaster Scribe and it's great to etch a label on the CD/DVD. Just gotten very hard to find those disks now ...
 
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