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Optical drive doesn't show up, can't eject disc

rprebel

rprebel

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 22, 2010
399
0
Where the bluebonnets bloom
Here's what happened. I bumped my Mini fairly hard, and the audio immediately cut out. I was watching some streaming video at the time, and the video kept playing. I tried to restart. Beach ball. I turned the comp off and back on. Folder with question mark. After messing around with that for a bit, I tried putting my 10.6 DVD in and starting from that. It didn't work, but that doesn't matter since that problem fixed itself after a few restarts. The problem is that the DVD is now stuck in the drive and the Mini doesn't recognize the drive any more. The drive momentarily spins up at startup, but that's it. If I have to take it apart to get the disc out, that's fine. I have the tools and have done it before when I upgraded the RAM. I just want to avoid that if possible.

I've gone through Google and MRoogle, and have tried the following:
Cmd+Opt+o+f at startup (Firmware method)
Option key at startup (only shows the internal HD)
Eject in iTunes (does nothing)
Disk Utility (doesn't see the drive)
Terminal (does nothing)

Suggestions?
 
Have you tried restarting and holding down the eject button while booting? That would be the only other thing I could think of without tearing into the computer.
 
Try rebooting and holding down the mouse button. That will cause an optical disc to eject.
 
AsterixGM said:
Have you tried restarting and holding down the eject button while booting? That would be the only other thing I could think of without tearing into the computer.
Click to expand...

DewGuy1999 said:
Try rebooting and holding down the mouse button. That will cause an optical disc to eject.
Click to expand...

Thx to you both. I just tried everything one more time, and the drive still isn't showing up and the disc still won't eject. I guess I'll have to open it up. There shouldn't be a problem leaving it in there for a month or so, right? I'd like to upgrade something while I'm in there, and with christmas coming up I could get a new HD or CPU and kill two birds with one stone.

Thx again.
 
I had the same problem a while back--the DVD I'd inserted apparently hadn't set properly in the drive so it wasn't being recognized. After trying the traditional methods you've also tried, I resorted to something a bit unconventional after reading of its success by another online poster.

Immediately after rebooting, I very carefully inserted a credit card (actually think i used an old iTunes gift card) into the optical slot over the top of the DVD (felt it spinning against the card). I give an ever so gentle slight downward press/wiggle to the card which succeeded in reseating the DVD in the drive and thus having it recognized in the optical. In hindsight, probably not the smartest solution but I really didn't want to disassemble the Mini and was very careful/gentle. Obviously, you'll want to proceed at your own risk.

Good luck.
 
No idea if this will work with a Mac mini or not, but I've read of people with MacBooks/Pros and iMacs holding the Mac so the optical drive was pointing down while ejecting a recalcitrant disc, the added help of gravity getting the disc to come out.
 
tbayrgs said:
I had the same problem a while back--the DVD I'd inserted apparently hadn't set properly in the drive so it wasn't being recognized. After trying the traditional methods you've also tried, I resorted to something a bit unconventional after reading of its success by another online poster.

Immediately after rebooting, I very carefully inserted a credit card (actually think i used an old iTunes gift card) into the optical slot over the top of the DVD (felt it spinning against the card). I give an ever so gentle slight downward press/wiggle to the card which succeeded in reseating the DVD in the drive and thus having it recognized in the optical. In hindsight, probably not the smartest solution but I really didn't want to disassemble the Mini and was very careful/gentle. Obviously, you'll want to proceed at your own risk.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I'll give it a shot, thx.
 
Does the drive show up in System Profiler? Also, can you hear the drive spin up when you reboot?

You may have physically knocked one of the cables out. If it's spinning up but not listed in Profiler, then it's probably the data cable. If it's not spinning up, I'd wager that it's the power cable.
 
DewGuy1999 said:
No idea if this will work with a Mac mini or not, but I've read of people with MacBooks/Pros and iMacs holding the Mac so the optical drive was pointing down while ejecting a recalcitrant disc, the added help of gravity getting the disc to come out.
Click to expand...

That's a new one on me. Can't hurt to try, right?

Nermal said:
Does the drive show up in System Profiler? Also, can you hear the drive spin up when you reboot?

You may have physically knocked one of the cables out. If it's spinning up but not listed in Profiler, then it's probably the data cable. If it's not spinning up, I'd wager that it's the power cable.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it spins up but isn't visible to any applications. I must have unseated something (data cable) when I bumped into it. Break out the business cards and the putty knife, it's time for surgery!
 
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