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How to get two 2 mini stuck CD's out of an iMac

B

brainwave89

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 7, 2006
476
8
Children...
How can I get two 2 mini stuck CD's out of an iMac? The eject button is working but neither of the two mini cd's come out.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
When you say "Children" do you mean us... or that children did this to the iMac?

Either way, strong thin cardboard with sticky tape on it to stick to the CD. that's my guess.
 
The documentation with slot-loading drives specifically mentions not using mini-cds.

If you can't get it out with gravity, you will have to take it apart and try to get it out... or take it to an Apple Certified Repair center.
 
Children as in 3 years old. They never read the manual.

I will try the cardboard option since gravity didn't work.

Thanks y'all.
 
Thank you all for your help.

The lovely 3-year actually put in 2 mini cd's and one regular cd. Wow.
What worked was the thin cardboard and tape. Super solution.

Thanks again.
 
brainwave89 said:
Thank you all for your help.

The lovely 3-year actually put in 2 mini cd's and one regular cd. Wow.
What worked was the thin cardboard and tape. Super solution.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

things must've been quite jammed in there!
 
Wow, this brings back old memories. The first iMac we purchased for the office (back when the original was released), I stupidly stuck a mini disc in, expecting that it would somehow "handle it". I never quite lived it down. When a recent patent showed that Apple is still looking for solutions, it makes me wonder how they judge ideas as ready-for-prime time. I remember when my Mac required a special tray simply to load ANY cd, nevermind a mini.

Good luck with that. It sounds like an impossibly hairy situation. Blessings counted though, its not a VCR loaded with PB & J. :D

~ CB
 
I think the nintendo wii handles both big + small disks, so it's possible. I have a stack of very handy tiny rewritable cds here going unused, so I hope apple sorts it out :)
 
psonice said:
I think the nintendo wii handles both big + small disks, so it's possible. I have a stack of very handy tiny rewritable cds here going unused, so I hope apple sorts it out :)
Click to expand...

It's a hardware thing. Apple doesn't possess the NintendoMagic :(
 
That seems to be the persistent problem with slot-loads. The iBooks in my school are always getting jammed with CD's. Hey, at least we don't have floppy drives anymore.
 
koobcamuk said:
When you say "Children" do you mean us... or that children did this to the iMac?

Either way, strong thin cardboard with sticky tape on it to stick to the CD. that's my guess.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know old thread....

anyways my lovely 6 year old son stuck two discs in my macbook this morning and this tip worked!
 
never too young

This is a very valuable article. My 10 years old put a mini-disc in when a regular CD was already in the drive. This works!!!!
 
Good to know... my 22 moth old has already jammed my MacBook's drive twice by trying to shove a second CD in while one was already in. I've since started ripping ALL of my kids movies to the hard drive, because I'm getting tired of disassembling my laptop in order to remove the drive so I can pry the little metal piece back into place. Ugh.

Maybe this is a sign that I don't need internal optical drives, and I should just be replacing them with SSD's... :rolleyes: Yeah, like my wife's gonna buy THAT...
 
2 stuck CDs in imac slot drive

Had this very same problem today, 3 year old stuck 2 normal size CDs into imac slot drive. iMac trying to eject over and over and just ending with a clunk each time. Tried all software options, disk util, terminal, holding mouse down on startup, holding C down on start up etc, nothing worked. From another post somewhere else on Macrumours I did this and it worked...

use sellotape to tape down the felt material on each side so you can see into the drive slot (a bit fiddly but you get there eventually). Then I used a thin butter knife with some an inch of double sided sellotape on the end. In between ejection cycles I was just able to see (with the help of a good light) to slide this well in beside the disk (on the side of the disk toward the back of the imac). As it was trying to eject I pushed the knife against the CD to stick and then gently worked it up and down as I pulled the CDs out. After a few goes it stuck and I was able to grab the two CDs and pull them out.

Can't believe the drive still works after about 200 failed ejection cycles chewing on two disks!!
 
recommendation on tape and size?

Happen to me when my nieces visits and one of them squeeze in another disk before ejecting the first.

I tried the method but the disk just won't stick onto the disk. I then tried using the Russfrench method by typing the felt materials first. I managed to catch a glimpse of the 2 disks stack together. But the disk just don't stick to the tape. Is there a certain brand of tape which I should use or is there any recommended size to cut. Really frustrated.
 
 
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This thread reminds me of an incident at the Apple store, waiting for a Genius appointment, and seeing a lady plump down her iMac on the bar and complain about the slot-loading drive not reading or ejecting the 5.25" floppy drive she had inserted, folded of course 'cause it wouldn't fit otherwise. The guy behind the bar bruised his chin when it dropped on his chest-medallion.
 
Credit Card + Duct Tape!

I was just asked for help removing a "stuck" CD from a 17" iMac. Turns out it has been stuck in the drive for TWO YEARS! It would spin and the Eject motors would grind away -- but the disc remained firmly in the drive. Solution: Extremely sticky duct tape folded over a credit card. Push the credit card + tape into the drive slot in front of the CD and get it firmly stuck on the disc. Then slide out the credit card, leaving the tape stuck on the disc. Finally, gently pull the duct tape + disc out of the slot. Worked like a charm!

And to add icing to the cake, we tried putting another CD back in immediately afterwards. Read it no problem, ejected no problem. Must have just been something funky about that one particular CD from two years ago.
 
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