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Question

Anyone have trouble with Super Drive? (10.7.3, 266ghz Intel)

Feb 24, 2012 4:54AM PST

My mid 2009 MacBook Pro is starting to give me fits. The Super drive does not seem to recognize anything I put in, music or software.
With the music, it just kicks it out with no indication on the monitor. With software it says that I put in an empty dvd, what do I want to do with it. ???
Anyone have any suggestions?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Only when the drive is past a few years old.
Feb 24, 2012 4:57AM PST

I always try the usual such as lens cleaning, the discussions about permissions but 99 per cent of the time, it's time for a new drive.
Bob

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Answer
Sounds like
Feb 24, 2012 5:09AM PST

Sounds like a dead drive, so you can certainly try the things Bob suggested, but most likely you're looking at needing a new drive.

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Super Drive
Feb 25, 2012 2:57AM PST

Would that seem viable if the drive recognized the install discs? I put in the install disks and it had no trouble with them.
Been all over the net and someone suggested that it was the fault of the 32 vs 64 bit issue.
That said, what else could it be? The software I am trying to install is Aperture plus the early version of Final Cut Express HD. both of which I had no issues with when I used them with X but now I have Lion so the problem if it is not with the HD as some have suggested, might be........?
Thanks a lot you guys for the quick response!

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Yes
Feb 25, 2012 10:04AM PST

Yes, I've had drives where they are in various stages of failure. In one case it would only fail to recognize audio CDs, but everything else worked fine. It's not a 32-bit vs 64-bit issue, so whomever is floating that idea of full of crap. One of those annoying sorts who likes to feign understanding and just end up perpetuating bad info to people like you.

And there is no drive of better quality than the factory. Quite simply, optical drives fail, and they fail pretty often. Like pretty much anything, sometimes you get a drive that just seems impervious to anything you throw at it, and then sometimes you get drives that fail right out of the gate. Most are somewhere in between. You can buy a replacement from someone else, it doesn't mean it will last any longer than the original factory drive will. Just one more bit of bad info to disabuse you of while I'm at it.

Try Bob's ideas, since they're free or at least lower cost than a new drive, and having a lens cleaning disc around might not be such a bad idea for various other devices. If those don't work, you can replace the drive or have someone replace it. As repairs go, that one's not overly difficult, you just need to be careful about the grounding screw by the speaker assembly. Getting that back in can be a bit of a trick, mostly just because you have to do it blind. Might also be a good idea to disconnect the battery from the MLB, just to be on the safe side. Nothing you're doing should make a bit of difference, but just as a general rule it's a good idea to make sure there's no live current running when working on a unit.

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Super Drive
Feb 25, 2012 2:15PM PST

Thanks for the info Jimmy. I will go out and get a new one and while I am at it, buy at least 16g of memory for my hard work and maybe even a 500G HD. Well as long as I am going to do it might as well do it right. No?
I appreciate your efforts and tip and I will get back on and let you know how it turns out. Maybe a month out.
Thanks again.

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According to the specs
Feb 25, 2012 11:51PM PST

According to the specs, and given I just sold my Mid-09 MBP after upgrading the RAM for the new owner, the max supported RAM by that model is 8GB in a 2x4GB configuration. It's possible 16GB will work, but it's also possible it won't. Any time you go over the max CTO specs, you enter into untested territory and never know what the results will be. You may see some people who have success with a config, and others who don't have any success at all with the exact same config. So, either make sure you have some alternate use for that RAM if it doesn't work, be willing to eat the cost of the RAM, or play it safe and go with only 8GB.

Not sure what the max is on HDDs, but the same applies. Whatever the max CTO was, that's all the higher that is basically guaranteed to work.

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Super Drive
Feb 25, 2012 2:59AM PST

I guess as an adjunct question to your answer if it is correct, where can I get a new drive that is superior to the factory standard?

Thanks again~~

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www.macsales.com
Feb 25, 2012 4:10AM PST

is where you would find one of those

P

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Super Drive
Feb 25, 2012 7:09AM PST

I guess as an adjunct question to your answer if it is correct, is would you find one of those or where can I find new drive that is superior to the factory standard?

Thanks again~~
many thanks to mrmacfixit for the correction

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Answer
Superdrive after 10.7.3 upgrade
Mar 16, 2012 7:36AM PDT

Hello all:

My DVD drive on both iMac and MacBook stopped recognizing DVD disks; and when writing give an error message "not sufficient disk space" !

Any suggestion how to roll back the upgrade?

Tks in advance

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(NT) What do you use to write to them with?
Mar 16, 2012 8:36AM PDT
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(NT) Hi, the regular Disk Utility; it used to worked fine for me.
Mar 18, 2012 7:34AM PDT
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the upgrade may have been a coincidence
Mar 18, 2012 12:28PM PDT

you could try zapping the PRAM and a lens cleaner, but be prepared to find that the drive is faulty


P