Strange SuperDrive Behavior

[Alan_Z]

My folks own an iMac 17" with the CD/DVD burner drive internal running Jag 10.2.8. I also own a 17' iMac with a similar drive runing Panther 10.3.2.

I cannot get the Panther Install Disk 1 to behave correctly when I put the disk in thier drive. The Superdrive spins up the disk and then begins a rhythmic whir-click activity for about 30 seconds. After that, the window for the disk opens but the Install Mac OS X item icon is a folder, not the little disk with the downward pointing arrow. If I select the item two things happen; first the rhythmic clicking starts again and then after 30 seconds or so I get a warning dialog that says there is no application assigned to open the item.

The Panther disk works fine in my machine.

Any ideas as to how to fix this?

Note: Apparently My Dad took his machine into the Apple Store the last time we had this trouble; they had no problems whatsoever getting a bunch of disks to work just fine...

The Panther disk works fine on my machine; Apple System Profiler says my Superdrive is:
Manufacturer: PIONEER
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-104
Revision: A227

The Jaguar Apple System Profiler says my folsk have:
Product Identification: DVD-RW GCA-4020B
Vendor identification: HL-DT-ST
Device Revision: D02D

 

[Arden]

To install Panther, you have to insert the CD, restart the computer and hold the C key as soon as you hear the chime.

 

[Alan_Z]

To install Panther, you have to insert the CD, restart the computer and hold the C key as soon as you hear the chime.

Well, OK, but why the difference in drive behavior between my machine and theirs? It does the same rhythmic click whir thing using your suggestion. At the end of the 30 seconds of click whir I get a flashing question mark on the startup folder icon. 30 seconds later I get the gray screen with the gray apple and the machine starts up from the hard drive.

On my machine, the disk opens normally.

I think there's something incompatible with the drive and the Panther disk, personally.

 

[Cheryl]

On your Dad's machine, go to the utility folder>Disk Utility and verify and repair permissions. Make sure your Dad is the Admin/Owner user.
Once done try that install again, booting with the C key down and the Panther disk inserted.

 

[bobw]

Did this disk come with your newer iMac? If so, it may not work with the older machine.

 

[Alan_Z]

On your Dad's machine, go to the utility folder>Disk Utility and verify and repair permissions. Make sure your Dad is the Admin/Owner user.
Once done try that install again, booting with the C key down and the Panther disk inserted.

I tried this but the drive behaves the same way.

As a side note the Panther Install disk 2 opens right up - no problem!

 

[Alan_Z]

Did this disk come with your newer iMac? If so, it may not work with the older machine.

My 17" iMac was purchased in January of '03 and my folks was purchased mid-this year IIRC. The disk is an off-the-shelf Panther Family 5-user install version (that has only 2 installs on it so far).

 

[Cheryl]

I am wondering if it is a defective cd. It is suppose to allow 5 installs not 2.

 

[DeltaMac]

I am wondering if it is a defective cd. It is suppose to allow 5 installs not 2.

The install CD does not keep track of how many installs you attempt (that's a relief!).

Likely the CD is defective, trying other CDs in the system doesn't tell you too much, except that your drive reads other disks OK. Some drives are more sensitive to minor surface problems on CDs (it's not an emotional issue!) which can explain why it worked OK in a different system(and different brand drive) You should be able to swap that CD out at an Apple Store.

 

[Alan_Z]

The install CD does not keep track of how many installs you attempt (that's a relief!).

Likely the CD is defective, trying other CDs in the system doesn't tell you too much, except that your drive reads other disks OK. Some drives are more sensitive to minor surface problems on CDs (it's not an emotional issue!) which can explain why it worked OK in a different system(and different brand drive) You should be able to swap that CD out at an Apple Store.

Yeah, I've come to that conclusion, too. I'll try the "Hey Apple Guy! Gimme another one!" approach.

Thanks!

 

[erikv11]

I hope this thread isn't too run out to get some feedback:

My machine = G4 TiBook 800MHz, combo drive (burns CDs not DVDs). 10.2.6.

My drive reads and writes CDs just fine, but as of last week will not start up from ANY disk (2 different brand new Panther disks, brand new DiskWarrior disk, old 9.2.2 disk all fail). At first i thought it was the Panther disks but now discovered it happens with any CD.

The reason I post is because the behavior is exactly the same when I start up holding the c key - whir, click, whir, click ... then flashing folder/question mark as the system on the CD refuses to be found. If I hold the option key, the OS on the cd is detected and i can select it, but when trying to startup it goes through the same clicking etc and fails.

So it sounds like a drive problem in my case. I'll look further into it, but was wondering whether or not Alan_Z nailed it down to a faulty CD in his case?

Any other thoughts on why the drive works OK except as the startup drive?

 

[DeltaMac]

I hope this thread isn't too run out to get some feedback:

So it sounds like a drive problem in my case. I'll look further into it, but was wondering whether or not Alan_Z nailed it down to a faulty CD in his case?

Any other thoughts on why the drive works OK except as the startup drive?

the Option boot shows the CD, because it just scans the directory, not actually reading and loading files, the boot process is more complex than simply reading the directory. So, loading files (actually using that data) fails, likely that the drive simply is failing. I would call it intermittent reading.