DVD drive on my macbook is gone

swingking

well it looks like the DVD drive has gone on my macbook. I have been trying to install snow leopard for the last hour and the continuous noise coming from it and it constantly ejecting the CD mid-install has me convinced the DVD drive has packed up.

Does anyone know roughly how much it's gonna cost to have it replaced. I don't have applecare (I know; stupid of me not to) and it's out of warranty.

Any help is very much appreciated

mikemac

Have you tried another DVD?

Not a stupid question, when you call Apple support it'll be the first question they ask you

swingking

no, no it's not a stupid question.

I had this problem when I tried to install iLife 09 and it would eject midway; after several tries that did work eventually.

Don't have a problem with DVDs that play movie which is strange; only install DVDs

I seem to be getting a lot of noise coming from it

cornbb

Is it a DVD you burned yourself by any chance? There seems to be a known issue with DVD±Rs... incredibly annoying.

Elessar

How long are you out of warranty and how much did you pay for the macbook?

swingking

The warranty on the laptop expired last March. I paid roughly 1300 for the Macbook; expensive, I know but worth the price.

The DVD I'm trying to run is the Snow Leopard installer DVD but I'm also having a problem with a movie; really really annoying.

Can these optical drives be replaced easily enough. Say if I were to track down one on Ebay maybe?

Elessar

That's ridiculous. You are still covered under the Sale of Goods and Supply of services act 1980. Apple's warranty is meaningless. Assuming you bought from Apple direct, ring them up (try to get one of the irish CSRs) quote the above act and say that you believe it is reasonable to expect a €1300 laptop to last longer than a year and a half. Consumer law is completely on your side. Tell them you are willing to take it to the small claims court because you will have a very good chance of winning.

Don't spend money on it. You will get it repaired for free because you are legally entitled to do so.

cleo_mcdowell

swingking wrote: »

well it looks like the DVD drive has gone on my macbook. I have been trying to install snow leopard for the last hour and the continuous noise coming from it and it constantly ejecting the CD mid-install has me convinced the DVD drive has packed up.

Any help is very much appreciated

Hi Swingking,

I had a similar issue with my macbook pro about a year ago.

yes, unfortunately the drive was faulty.

however it would still work when i turned the macbook upside down!

Try and complete the install again this time holding your macbook upside down during the install process, see how you get on.

swingking

fantastic tip, I'll give that a try