12-04-2010, 01:41 PM

I recently rebuilt my Macbook (late 2007 black model) with parts from another Macbook (mid 2008 model) after my cat peed on my lappy. I basically just used the logic board from the 2008 one with the superdrive and harddrive from the 2007. The superdrive is reading CD's, but it is not burning them. For CD's, it starts to initialize the disc, but never gets to writing anything before saying that it is a media issue. The CD's and DVD's I'm trying to use are the same ones I used successfully in that drive before the cat pee, so I know its not a media issue. So, my questions are:

1. There was a tiny bit of corrosion on the superdrive from the cat pee. But could that cause it to read but not burn? The drive from the other lappy wasn't working at all so I can't use.

2. The drives from the 2 computers are different models. Is it possible that the drive I'm using isn't compatible with the new logic board? The drive I am using is HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N, but the drive that originally went with the logic board is a UJ-867. The 2 computers were very slightly different (2.2ghz vs. 2.4, etc.) but I think they had the same model number.

3. Is it possible that I mis-installed it somehow? The alignment is off a tiny bit (when I eject discs they barely spit out). Should I try to reinstall it?

4. Is there any test I can run to see why it is reading but not burning? Anyway to try to clean it?

5. Is it common to have problems with a replacement superdrive? If its one of those things where the new part will never really work quite right, then I can just suck it up and get an external burner.

Thanks for any help!

12-04-2010, 04:13 PM

G'day and welcome top the forums.

Your cat has pretty potent urine, so the corrosion is a bad sign and the optical drive may be terminally damaged. Can't help with question 2, but if you have the original install disc, run Apple Hardware Test over it in Extended Mode.

Because of the minaturisation in laptop superdrives, failure is very common and they seem to have a limited life. Just go through the threads on this forum and see the number of MB and MBP with optical drive problems.