PowerBook G4 can't see combo drive

[riddle]

My 12" PowerBook G4 running 10.4.7 suddenly can't see the CD/DVD combo drive. If I go into System Profiler > Hardware > ATA the system doesn't even know that the drive exists.

It's just one month out of warranty, too. Aaughh!

My local independent Mac shop says I need a new combo drive. I'm inclined to believe them because they're not looking to do the work -- they recommend I send it in to the specialists at MCEtech.com.

But before I replace the drive, is there anything else I can try? I've already tried every flavor of reboot I know, I've reset the PRAM by booting with cmd-opt-P-R, and I've confirmed that the drive isn't visible in Open Firmware mode. Anything else?

Thanks.

 

[riddle]

I'll be damned -- all advice to the contrary, it looks like this was a software problem!

Before giving up and buying a replacement combo drive, I tried rebooting from backup on an external FireWire disk. To my great joy, the combo drive was visible again. I ejected the CD it had swallowed, rebooted again from my internal hard drive and now everything appears to be fine.

Hallelujah! Now let's just hope that it was a fluke and not a sign of an impending permanent failure...