Disc stuck in Superdrive

F

fpayne

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I have a 17" Power Book G4 which is three months old. It is my first Mac after 20 years with a PC and it is not a happy Mac. I am not a happy Mac owner :-(

It now has a CD jammed in the superdrive. It will neither eject or be recognised. All the threads say hold down the mouse button, this will force eject the disc. All this does is give me a blue screen. No effect on the disk. While I sit here it is trying to eject the disc on its own every 30 seconds or so. It is a home made disc with a paper label which works in my 2 PCs and windows laptop.

How do I get it out, preferably without the use of a hammer!!

Thanks guys and gals, you all are a great help.
 
I saw your post in another thread that you created. Why not contact Apple to replace the hardware? Did you purchase the PowerBook from Apple directly or from one of their resellers?
 
It was from a reseller in San Francisco (CompUSA), only because I was too tired to walk back to the Apple Store and the price was the same. This problem has been threatening to happen but eventually the disc came out. Not this time. It happened since the last post.

Maybe I have worn it out. I am trying to put all my music on the iPod before my travels ............... about 1000 CDs. But from what people have said in other threads the machine may be faulty so I will call Applecare in the morning. But without the superdrive backing up is a problem.

Surely there is a way to manually remove a disk from the drive, as it is not that uncommon for a drive to fail. Mac, PC or even audio and DVD.

Thanks for taking the trouble to answer
 
I'm not absolutely sur but I think if you bought it at CompUSA it's still covered by Apple since they have an Apple Store of sorts (just not like the Apple Store that you see standalone). Did you register your hardware? Contact Apple anyway. They'll be able to take care of you if you're still under the warranty period.
 
Thanks,

Yes, it was a big section ofthe store dedicated to all things Apple.

I also purchased the Apple Protection Plan so it should be well covered. To physically get to anywhere which sells Apple gear is the problem and having spent ages ( and a lot of cash) converting everything to work with a Mac I have no idea if I can get it back to working on the PC again.

For Microsoft outlook there is a backup program made by Microsoft and you can also just back up the .pst file What is the equivalent file for Entourage and can I re-convert the data to work on Outlook? It is this data I cannot afford to lose.

Thanks again
 
If you have the AppleCare Protection Plan, just contact Apple and they should instruct you on what you need to do to send it to them and have it repaired. Of course, this would mean that you would be without your laptop for a time, but it's possible they will either repair/replace the logic board or replace your system with a new one. Just remember to backup your data before sending it to them.

Remember that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so be sure to make an issue out of how this has happened to you already after owning it for only a few months, but make sure it doesn't come off as rude. :)
 
Applecare gave me the number of an authorised repairer not too far from me, so I took it too them and they removed the disk. This particular occassion would appear to be my fault. A non sticky label on a disk. Apparently disks with labels and Superdrives are not compatible.

I have learnt not to leave things bought in another country with dealers in Spain, to be either repaired or replaced under warranty. It doesn't happen and you don't see the item again for at least six months. I will do a reinstall, see what happens and then take it to the Apple Store in the UK if the problems persist. They should at least have a replacement there.
 
fpayne said:
I have a 17" Power Book G4 which is three months old. It is my first Mac after 20 years with a PC and it is not a happy Mac. I am not a happy Mac owner :-(

It now has a CD jammed in the superdrive. It will neither eject or be recognised. All the threads say hold down the mouse button, this will force eject the disc. All this does is give me a blue screen. No effect on the disk. While I sit here it is trying to eject the disc on its own every 30 seconds or so. It is a home made disc with a paper label which works in my 2 PCs and windows laptop.
.
Click to expand...

Hello!

I had a similar problem a while ago. I found this document (and it worked!):

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106752

Macintosh: How to Eject a Disc When Other Options Do Not Work
You may use Open Firmware to eject a CD or DVD disc when normal methods for ejecting it have not succeeded.

To eject a disc with Open Firmware commands, follow these steps:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the startup sound, press and hold the key combination Command-Option-O-F.
Note: The Command key has the Apple icon on it.
3. Release the keys when you see a white screen that says "Welcome to Open Firmware."
4. At the prompt, type: eject cd
5. Press Return, then wait a few seconds. The disc drive should eject any disc that is present, and "ok" appears behind your command when the action is complete.
6. Type: mac-boot
7. Press Return.

Your computer should now start up normally.

Related Documents:
51008: "iMac: If You Can't Eject a CD or DVD, or Open the Drive Tray"

Edgewood17
 
Well, that could be said of any optical drive and a non-sticky label on the disc. :D Usually I just label my own created discs with a marker, that way I don't have to worry about the label peeling off.

God willing everything will turn out for the better. Good luck! :)
 
Normally my labels and discs are inseperable. But yes, there is always a risk with sticky labels coming off. A lesson learnt. The added problem is the superdrive is so slim and I have noticed the drive sometimes has a problem with some of my older CDs which are much thicker. "They don't make 'em like they used to, you know".
I was led through the alternative boot up to try and eject the CD but needless to say it didn't work. A friendly Mac engineer did though. And why so many tiny screws to hold this thing together?
Thanks guys
 
Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou! I had the wrong OS CD stuck in my iMac and my computer wouldn't load. Phew! Now it works again.
Thanks,
Macartist
 
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