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    Optical drive question

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by CanadianDude, Jan 11, 2012.

  1. CanadianDude

    CanadianDude Notebook Deity

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    The optical drive in my macbook pro seems to not want to read DVDs. Sometimes the DVD will start up and seem to play fine but then freezes. Sometimes it even says "Skipping over damaged area" and the beach ball of death comes up. I then have to force quit. Other times the drive makes a bunch of noise and the DVD never begins to play. The DVDs I used were brand new...

    However, it seems to read all other discs fine. It can read music CDs, OSX CDs, and CDs from textbooks. It also burns CDs just fine. So I'm not sure if it's actually faulty...or if I have to adjust something or what...

    What could be the problem here?
     
    CanadianDude, Jan 11, 2012
    #1
  2. saturnotaku

    saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    The laser that reads DVDs might be damaged. The drive will probably need to be replaced. Should be no problem if you're still under warranty. If not it's not too hard to do yourself. http://www.macsales.com carries spares for most every Mac you can think of, and they host instructional videos so you can see exactly what to do.
     
    saturnotaku, Jan 11, 2012
    #2
  3. ClearSkies

    ClearSkies Well no, I'm still here..

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    I concur with the above assessment - the drive is quite likely gone bad.

    If out of warranty, you can also have Apple do it via Genius Bar for $160 including the drive..
     
    ClearSkies, Jan 11, 2012
    #3
  4. shriek11

    shriek11 Notebook Deity

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    The drives that apple uses, for aesthetics I presume, are prone to damage your dvd / cds like the slot loaded ones in your car.
     
    shriek11, Jan 12, 2012
    #4