PowerBook G4 Optical Drive Problems

A

Alexander Smith

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I bought an excellent Powerbook G4 off eBay, from a very reputable seller. Thing is, the PowerBook is an excellent computer, and very power, it's the 667Mhz DVI Model. Here's the problem, the optical drive won't accept any of my CDs. I've tried some Game CDs as well as Panther Install CDs, and DVDs, they don't seem to work. The seller told me that before he shipped it, he used the Microsoft Word CD to install Word, and he also installed Mac OSX Tiger. so those CDs worked for Him, but my CDs won't work for me! I also tried booting in OS9, but that didn't fix the problem. I would have done an erase and reinstall, but I can use my Panther Disc. What should I do? I know of several places where I can get my Optical drive replaced, but I don't want to return this comp because besides this problem it's a great computer, and it was a one in a million chance to get a deal like this. So what should I do? And are there any options that might help this problem?
 
what kind od diskes do work, and what doesn't work? you say the panther disk doesn't work, then you say that it does. could it be that the disks that aren't working are for windows and not macs?
 
Uh, I never said one Panther CD worked and one didn't, I said the Panther CD/DVDs don't work, and the TIGER CD/DVD does.

I tried using the Baldur's Gate 2 ToB install CD, and it didn't work, even though it says "Built for Mac OS X" on it.
 
O.K. The differences from Panther to Tiger reading optical drivers is measured by year released. So if you can get into this Mac, click on the Blue Apple in the top left corner. Once in there select "About This Mac" and then select 'More Info', this will launch an application called "System Profiler" (it is in the folder /Applications/Utilities/System Profiler). Once that application opens up, highlight 'Disk Burning' and report back to the forum what disk burning reports.
 
Here:

MATSHITA CD-RW CW-8121:

Firmware Revision: AA17
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO
Media: No


I wonder why it doesn't display DVD as being an option, it's supposed to be a DVD-CDRW drive. What does this tell you?
 
Alexander Smith said:
I bought an excellent Powerbook G4 off eBay, from a very reputable seller. Thing is, the PowerBook is an excellent computer, and very power, it's the 667Mhz DVI Model. Here's the problem, the optical drive won't accept any of my CDs. I've tried some Game CDs as well as Panther Install CDs, and DVDs, they don't seem to work. The seller told me that before he shipped it, he used the Microsoft Word CD to install Word, and he also installed Mac OSX Tiger. so those CDs worked for Him, but my CDs won't work for me! I also tried booting in OS9, but that didn't fix the problem. I would have done an erase and reinstall, but I can use my Panther Disc. What should I do? I know of several places where I can get my Optical drive replaced, but I don't want to return this comp because besides this problem it's a great computer, and it was a one in a million chance to get a deal like this. So what should I do? And are there any options that might help this problem?
Click to expand...

right there you do say you can use your panther disk. hence my comment. but if you can only see cds and not dvds, then the drive is most likely bad. i don't know if it is still the case, but once upon a time, combo drives had 2 different lasers, one for cds, and one for dvds. if you drive is like that, the dvd laser could be bad, or dirty.
 
Whoops, that was a typo, I meant to say "But it CAN'T use my Panther CDs"

Btw, neither CDs, nor DVDs work. I managed to get a Panther install CD to work just once, but I couldn't boot from it, and I was in OS9 when it worked. But I can't get it to work again. If I bought an external CD/DVD drive using USB, could I boot from that?
 
Yes you could boot from an external DVD(on a G4 it should be a firewire model). Throughout this discussion I am starting to think that internal drive might be going. You might think about just replacing that internal superdrive. OWC has some really good internal superdrives as well as some external DVD+-RW drives. I mention them because of their install videos, included all capable cables in their boxes, and a great tech support that actually answers their phones.
 
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