Old MacBook - CD/DVD not recognized

[jhzolitor]

I'm a DJ and I wish to use our old MacBook Model A1181 to rip CD's. Problem: CD/DVD drive does not mount. It is not recognized. I tried setting up a new user and seeing if it would load under the new user. It did....once. I tried SMU/SMC repair, re-install, safe-mode boot, and nothing works. The drive will not be recognized. It accepts the disc and then spits it back out. Further, the same thing happens with any external drive I connect.

Any suggestions?

 

[Fishrrman]

I'll suggest something.
It may work, or it may not.
You won't know unless you try it.

First, you need to download and install the free RCDefault preference pane:
http://www.rubicode.com/Software/RCDefaultApp/

Install it.
Open it.
Click the Media tab.
For every choice relating to CD's or DVD's, select "ignore".

Close System Preferences.

Try a CD or DVD.
Does this make any difference?

Aside:
I find the "Default App" pref pane useful for other things, too.

 

[ApolloBoy]

There's also the chance the drive is dead, that happened to my old A1181 years ago and I just switched to using an external disc drive instead. External DVD drives are pretty cheap these days and will do a faster job of ripping discs than the MacBook's internal drive ever could.