Macbook drive problems

[ilikestella]

First of all, great to join the forums here, only taken me 3 years to find a problem that I've actually got to ask a question for.
I have 2 big problems with 2 different macbooks.
My girlfriend has a Macbook white about a year old and the last time a DVD/CD was inserted was about 5 months ago. I tried a DVD a few days ago -
The DVD is 'loose' all the way in to as far as I can push it without losing a grasp of the disc between my little fingers. After 3 years of using a macbook I know where the hardware would normally 'grab' the disc but this is just not happening.
I can feel the actuation mechanism being hit by the disc but it's not grabbing the disc. I've tried pushing a disc in many times, quickly, slowly, forcing an angle but no joy at all.

So... I decided that to install the software on hers I would put the disc in my Black macbook (3 years +) copy the data to a USB drive and do it that way.
Big problem, it feels as if a disc is stuck inside, it is that tight. I have a distinct feeling that this is because the missus flew into a massive rage a few nights ago (Tuesday) as I had a couple of buddies from the UK and Canada come visit me in Jakarta. I had to take them around the town, we got drunk, went to lots of bars with naked girls in etc etc...
So.. in her rage (Indonesian women are particularly tempestuous despite being 4'11 and 85lbs) she launched my laptop across the lounge to the tiled floor. I kind of guessed this had happened as when I awoke in my hazy hangover the following day my laptop appeared to be a little more askew than normal. I say normal, this has happened two times before with no detrimental effect to the operation of this amazingly durable laptop, just a slightly mis-aigned screen. Once she even threw it with the unit turned on and the screen open, I woke up in the morning to find my downloads happily chugging along.
There seems to have been some benefit to the last abusive period though, the fan no longer seems to continuously run at 15000 rpm anymore so now I can hear myself think, although I could easily fry an egg over the bottom of my Macbook.

So, white macbook, can I fool the drive into ejecting the non-existent disc and resetting itself? I've tried holding down the mouse button, and the eject button on startup - nothing. I've also tried an SMC reset (I think, but can't remove the battery without pulling it apart).
Secondly, I'm gonna pull the black apart and see if I can straighten things out a little. I am aware that the black is dying a slow death due to the awesome abuse it has withstood, so it is now time to start backing it all up ready for a new MBP.
Thirdly. if you come to Jakarta don't call me for a tour of the nightlife

Cheers,
Phil

 

[EvenStranger]

On the black MacBook, look at the optical drive slot straight on. Does it appear to be slightly curved or bowed? One of the more common issues with this series of MacBooks is the optical drive is on the right side, and since most people are right handed, when they carry the Mac one handed, the thumb tends to sit right at the weakest point of the optical drive slot, crushing it slightly. When this happens, optical disks will not want to insert or eject properly, or will scrub as they are inserted or ejected.

The way I typically fixed this was to get the largest flat blade screwdriver I could find and a half dozen business cards. Insert the business cards into the CD slot, and slide the screwdriver into the middle of the stack. Slide the driver and the cards along the slot, giving the screwdriver a slight twist every half inch or so, from the left side to the right. I recommend the business cards so the screwdriver doesn't gouge the plastic. Once you've done that, try inserting a CD again, or if a disk is already in the drive, ejecting it.

 

[ilikestella]

Great news, it worked for a while - a little bit.
It loosened up enough for me to be able to push a CD in with normal pressure. The Mechanism activated but it sounded like it was running on a flat battery with a very weak response. Not strong enough to grab the CD and pull it all the way in.
So I tweaked it a bit more with the screwdriver and now there is an obstruction about 1 inch in on the right (back) side so now I cant get a CD in at all

Restarted with the mouse button held down, drive did the eject disc action and now I can get a disc in and out no problem.
Black is back on track, need to work on the white now.