Matsushita CW-7586

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djangohole

Registered
I've had this problem for a long time. I have a G4 with a Matsushita CW-7586 CD burner. It works fine when reading silver audio CDs and data CDs, but it has a hard time with CD-Rs, both burned and blank ones. When I insert a CD-R into the drive, most of the time it will spit it back out. Every once in awhile it does read a blank CD-R. When this happens, sometimes I can burn to it and sometimes I can't. This is an extremely annoying problem, as I'd like to back up a lot of stuff. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there any solution to it?
 
djangohole said:
I've had this problem for a long time. I have a G4 with a Matsushita CW-7586 CD burner. It works fine when reading silver audio CDs and data CDs, but it has a hard time with CD-Rs, both burned and blank ones. When I insert a CD-R into the drive, most of the time it will spit it back out. Every once in awhile it does read a blank CD-R. When this happens, sometimes I can burn to it and sometimes I can't. This is an extremely annoying problem, as I'd like to back up a lot of stuff. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there any solution to it?
Click to expand...

I have the same problem at work - Sawtooth G4/450, Matsushita CW-7586 CDRW in a LaCie Firewire case. It doesn't usually spit the cd out, but it will say "no cd in the drive" and I can open the drive with the button. Sometimes I can burn, sometimes I can't. And sometimes when I do burn "successfully" and verify the burn, it says it's okay. But eject and reinsert and nothing. Put that cd into the internal dvd-rom and nothing. It's beginning to be incredibly annoying.....

Anyone have a thought? The burner has 2 firewire ports on it, so I switched the cable from one to the other. And I switched the port on the G4, too.
 
The strange thing about this is that I've heard of other people having this problem, but I can't turn up anything in searches. Does this sound like a software or hardware problem? It mostly seems to turn up in this particular drive.
 
There's a firmware update for this drive (which is around 3 years old) but can only be perfomed from a PC, and you may already have it (firmware version 1.08, check in your system profiler), and possibly may not help.
You could try cleaning the drive (commercial drive cleaning CD available at most office supply stores, or RadioShack, etc.) Or replace with a newer drive, can be found for $60-80 most places.
 
DeltaMac said:
There's a firmware update for this drive (which is around 3 years old) but can only be perfomed from a PC, and you may already have it (firmware version 1.08, check in your system profiler), and possibly may not help.
You could try cleaning the drive (commercial drive cleaning CD available at most office supply stores, or RadioShack, etc.) Or replace with a newer drive, can be found for $60-80 most places.
Click to expand...

It doesn't seem to want to install over a USB connection and I don't want to take it apart (mine's in a LaCie external firewire/USB case) to make it an internal drive just for the firmware update. Especially since this is a piece of work equipment, not personal.
 
Installing as an internal drive in a PC is probably the only satisfactory way to do it, but yes, seems like a lot of work just to update to firmware (USB likely does not have bandwidth to perform the firmware update)
 
Hmm... where in the system profiler can I find that information? I figured it would be in Devices and Volumes under the CD-RW section, but I can't find a firmware version number in there...
 
Firmware version may or may not be listed with the device in system profiler, but attempting to update the firmware may succeed in fixing your problem, it's just not a simple process. Toast software may display the firmware version for found devices, but that requires getting the Toast software. (which, btw, might give you more reliable burns, too.) Hardware difficulties with burners are sometimes the hardest to troubleshoot...
 
Thanks for the help! I'll probably end up having to just buy a new one, since it seems like my firmware is up to date.
 
I gave up and the boss ordered a replacement (internal, this time) - it's actually not expensive and the compatibility database at xlr8yourmac.com says it's fully supported and bootable:

http://store.yahoo.com/livewarehouse/mmli29920.html

I have a Lite-On at home (12x10x32x) - internal - and it's fully supported, bootable and works like a charm. It's 2 years old now, too.
 
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