Stuck CD in a Powerbook G4

akadesign

Have a stuck CD in a Powerbook G4 Slot loading, have tried all the various solutions on the Apple website with no luck, Toast and Disk Utility cannot recognise the drive so I reckon the optical drive may have come loose from the logic board.

I'm used to installing RAM and Hard Drives in various machines, how hard would it be to open up to see if the wire has come loose from the logic board? Or is this something I should leave to the professionals?

Mr. Presentable

Is there not an emergency eject on the drive? Tiny hole you could put a straightened paper clip through to press the manual release.

akadesign

Apparently there was one on the older G4 (hinged model) but this is the newer shape model similar to the MacPros at the moment.

heggie

hold mouse button at startup or

restart the computer holding down the Option key. When the startup disk selection screen appears, let go of the option key and press the keyboards eject button

babypink

akadesign wrote: »

I'm used to installing RAM and Hard Drives in various machines, how hard would it be to open up to see if the wire has come loose from the logic board?

in short - a total pain in the neck.

Does the drive make a noise when you press the power button to boot?

pvik00

If you hold the mouse button down during reboot the drive should eject.

If it still doesn't you might want to try
in terminal : drutil tray eject

If you really want to check the wiring it's rather tedious if you haven't done it before.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-15-Inch-1-1-5-GHz-BT-1-1/Optical-Drive/54/7/Page-1

drunkmonkey

anyone help with this,

I've got the same laptop, if you stick in a cd it will never recoginise it, you have to eject the cd, then put it in again real quick and it'll pick it up, if you hesitate it won't..

anyone any ideas? tks

nialler

A credit card or a piece of thick card, slide it in at an angle until it stops the cd rotating, holding the eject button on startup and that should do the trick. Not recommended for the feint hearted as it's noisy and sounds like it's wrecking your CD.

akadesign

Hi Guys, thanks for the many replies, from reading this I think the drive is damaged in some way, the disc doesn't even spin anymore.

I tried all the various combinations to eject the disk but the mac doesn't seem to recognise the optical drive, thanks pvik00 but it looks quite tricky.

Does any know where I could get someone to have a look at it, and an idea of how much it would cost, skint at the moment and don't want to be hit with a huge bill.

Third Eye

Apple have some advice on this here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2179?viewlocale=en_US

Also:
Here's what I did to get it out:

1. Insert a piece of thin cardboard into the slot, maybe about 2 inches inside. (I used a cereal box).
2. Press eject.
3. The CD will try to eject.
4. The idea is that it can eject OVER the cardboard, and then you will tilt the cardboard up to prevent the mechanism from pulling it back in. Once you can see the disc, pull it and the cardboard out at the same time.

Follow-Up: I tried gregvr's suggestion and after sliding a thin piece of cardboard in and trying my best to push it on top of the CD so that it could slide out when ejected, I managed to hit what felt/sounded like a thin metal clasp. When I hit it, the CD jumped out of the drive.

akadesign

Thanks Third Eye, did those to steps also, the problem is the disc isnt spinning anymore, I reckon theres a problem with the optical drive.

Do you know anywhere I could get someone to have a look at it, without being hit with a huge bill?

heggie

no idea about the hugh bill or lack of, but mactivate or typetec are authorized apple repair centres, also there is a guy on boards (cannot remember the name! but search this forum) who repairs macs. Nialler Niallo or something

nialler

Ta for the mention heggie!! Third eye, see my post 2 above your last one.