New iMac CD drive kinda picky

[strider42]

I've got my new iMac and am ripping my CD's to iTunes. Sometimes it chokes on a CD. It iwll get to a particular song and just get locked up. I end up having to force quit iTunes to get out of it. The drive makes a pretty loud noise while this is happening too. It seems to be a problem related to scratched or dirty discs. Its always the same song that's a problem and its only with damaged discs. But I can put the same CD in a windows laptop I have access to, and it works just fine,a nd they play fine in CD players. So my question is, has anyone else experienced their iMac's drive being kinda picky about damaged discs.

 

[flopticalcube]

Most slot loaders are picky.

 

[strider42]

Most slot loaders are picky.

This is the first slot loader i've had, so maybe that's all it is. Just making usre its not just my iMac thats picky about these things. I'd hate to have to bring it back for repair or something like that because I'm loving it.

 

[resonatorman]

Sorry to hijack, anyone notice (or is it my machine?) on these new iMac/alu that when ejecting a cd, they don't eject as far as the previous white iMacs. My previous iMac used to pop the cd out by half however this new one only pops it out by a third, or could I have faulty drive? Be interested in knowing other peoples experiences with this.....
Ta

 

[drafty5857]

Sorry to hijack, anyone notice (or is it my machine?) on these new iMac/alu that when ejecting a cd, they don't eject as far as the previous white iMacs. My previous iMac used to pop the cd out by half however this new one only pops it out by a third, or could I have faulty drive? Be interested in knowing other peoples experiences with this.....
Ta

Mine does the same, about a 1/3rd.

Had some issue playing DVD's. sometimes they'll stop..play...stop.. If i eject makes no difference, I have to restart for it to work properly again. Anybody had that happen to them?

 

[cmccarten]

I've got my new iMac and am ripping my CD's to iTunes. Sometimes it chokes on a CD. It iwll get to a particular song and just get locked up. I end up having to force quit iTunes to get out of it. The drive makes a pretty loud noise while this is happening too. It seems to be a problem related to scratched or dirty discs. Its always the same song that's a problem and its only with damaged discs. But I can put the same CD in a windows laptop I have access to, and it works just fine,a nd they play fine in CD players. So my question is, has anyone else experienced their iMac's drive being kinda picky about damaged discs.

In spite of the earlier poster saying that this is just a quality of slot-loaders, I think you should watch this carefully. See if the same CD has consistent problems in iTunes, particularly if it's new, then check how the CD behaves on another computer/disc drive. There's no reason why it shouldn't work, and especially no reason for iTunes to freeze like that.
I had the exact same issues with my MacBook Pro's Superdrive, and for a long time I just presumed it was the CDs. However, after a while, it got to the point where it would freeze while ripping every other CD, and often wouldn't read brand new ones.
I took some of the CDs it wouldn't read along with the computer the to Apple Store, and they quickly diagnosed a failing Superdrive!
So keep your eye on that problem!

 

[Hibbsy]

In spite of the earlier poster saying that this is just a quality of slot-loaders, I think you should watch this carefully. See if the same CD has consistent problems in iTunes, particularly if it's new, then check how the CD behaves on another computer/disc drive. There's no reason why it shouldn't work, and especially no reason for iTunes to freeze like that.
I had the exact same issues with my MacBook Pro's Superdrive, and for a long time I just presumed it was the CDs. However, after a while, it got to the point where it would freeze while ripping every other CD, and often wouldn't read brand new ones.
I took some of the CDs it wouldn't read along with the computer the to Apple Store, and they quickly diagnosed a failing Superdrive!
So keep your eye on that problem!

I'm worried about my superdrive on the new imac also.

I have been working my way through my DVD collection and its throwing up on every second one. At first I thought it was just the discs but I have a perfect DVD in their at the moment and it just will not play it. Get the wheel of colour and have to force quit DVD player. The DVD has hardly a mark on it.

Hmmm ... also DVDs are coming out of the drive hot or very warm.

Not happy

 

[johnmcboston]

Sorry to hijack, anyone notice (or is it my machine?) on these new iMac/alu that when ejecting a cd, they don't eject as far as the previous white iMacs. My previous iMac used to pop the cd out by half however this new one only pops it out by a third, or could I have faulty drive? Be interested in knowing other peoples experiences with this.....
Ta

Hey, on my white imac half of them pop all the way out - luckily the couch is there to catch them.

As for being picky - yah, I have the same issue on occasion. Even worse - I'll listen to a ripped song and find clicks in it. I keep an old external drive around to handle the trouble discs...

 

[plaidhippo]

I'm worried about my superdrive on the new imac also.

I have been working my way through my DVD collection and its throwing up on every second one. At first I thought it was just the discs but I have a perfect DVD in their at the moment and it just will not play it. Get the wheel of colour and have to force quit DVD player. The DVD has hardly a mark on it.

Hmmm ... also DVDs are coming out of the drive hot or very warm.

Not happy

I have a very similar issue with my SR-MBP. I'm ripping DVDs for the Apple TV, but if I put certain DVDs into the MBP drive (for example, Finding Nemo, Robin Hood - Men in Tights), the drive spins up a couple of times in an attempt to read the disc, and then spits it back out. It never shows up on the desktop or is available in any applications. Any help in getting these issues figured out would be very much appreciated!

BTW - OP - I have not had any problems with audio CDs, just video and I think one or two data disks.

 

[daneoni]

Hear hear, just tried to play a DVD on the iMac and it choked. Put the same DVD in my MBP and it cut through the movie like butter. Hopefully a firmware update solves this?

 

[Logic777]

I have been importing a lot of cd's this week into my new 24" 2.4 C2D iMac and have had two cd's get spit back out on my repeatedly. They are in new condition with no scratches or anything. I put these cd's into my wife's new MacBook that we bought at the same time as the iMac and the MacBook reads and imports them fine. It is only two out of about one hundred cd's that this has happened with but it just seems weird that the MacBook takes them with no problem. My cd's also come out quite warm as someone posted above. I haven't experienced any other issues though. I am assuming that upon first reading the cd when it is input, that it should be making an audible, fast spinning noise and then go very quiet during the import? I am going to take the two cd's in question to the Apple Store tomorrow and have them load them into a display iMac and see how the drives act on those. Hopefully this will set my mind at ease.

 

[nfocus design]

I have a 24" iMac and I like to never have gotten Photoshop installed. I put in the disc and it installed Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash and Acrobat, but got stuck on Photoshop every time. I tried several online suggestions, but nothing worked. Finally I put the disc in my external Lacie drive and it worked perfectly. I had burned some updates for multiple applications on a CD with another computer and the iMac took a long, long time to read the disc. Once it finally arrived on my desktop, it read it fine.

I don't think the fact that it is a slot loading drive is the issue. I have a slot load drive on my PowerBook and haven't ever had any issues. I also have 2 other iMacs with slot loading drives and never had any problems.

I've only had one other drive issue. The first G5 PowerMac I got had an LG drive in it and it was a piece of junk. It wouldn't burn a DVD except for one brand. I had a closet full of DVD's, but not that brand. Luckily my logic board failed and since they weren't able to fix it, I got a brand new G5 and it had a Pioneer drive.

 

[Gaelic1]

My new 20"iMac will play cds okay but whenever I burn a CD from an iTunes album, it will hardly play on my car CD player. Commercial CDs play fine but I've yet to burn a CD that played all the way through. I've been using Maxell, Imation and Sony discs but the brand of CDs doesn't seem to matter. Any ideas out there??

 

[CIrawI3riCIge]

My new 20"iMac will play cds okay but whenever I burn a CD from an iTunes album, it will hardly play on my car CD player. Commercial CDs play fine but I've yet to burn a CD that played all the way through. I've been using Maxell, Imation and Sony discs but the brand of CDs doesn't seem to matter. Any ideas out there??

It could be your car CD player. Can you try the burned CD's in another player?