CD Drive Disappeared

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I've had my 20" Intel iMac for going on 2 years now and had no problems, but recently the internal CD/DVD drive has begun acting up.

I insert a disc, I've tried everything from music cds, dvds, games and blank discs, yet nothing appears on the desktop, side bar or anywhere (and in system preferences it isn't set to ignore anything when inserted).

I also cannot then eject the disc unless I reboot and hold down eject while its loading up.

I have also noticed occasionally, very randomly and without prompting, it sometimes gives me a message like I have inserted a blank disc and it asks me what to do, yet there is no disc in the drive, nor have I done anything to try and use the drive.

In system profiler, under disc burning it says;
"No burning device was found. If you are using an external device please make sure that it is connected and powered properly."

What's wrong? It is becoming highly annoying, does anyone have any solutions or have had a similar problem? :(

Thanks

p.s. I'm running OS X 10.5.8
 

chscag

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Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Your drive has probably died and needs to be replaced. If it doesn't appear in the system profiler you won't be able to run the Apple Hardware Test on it to make sure.

A replacement drive can be purchased from the ifixit web site. They also have step by step instructions for do it yourself replacement. Also, there are a myriad of instructional videos that you can sort thru by doing a search on U Tube and the web.

iFixit: Apple Mac, MacBook, iPod, and iPhone Repair Parts

Regards.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacMini 14.3, 8.1 & 4.1, OS 13.5, 10.14, & 10.11 & 10.6; Macbook Pro 8.2, OS 10.12.
Something else to try. Insert a disk - any choice - and then open Disk Utility. See if the optical drive is even recognised. If, as chscag suggests, the drive has 'died', then nothing will show in DU.

Considering the complexities of replacing an internal optical drive, you might want to think seriously about using an external firewire drive instead. You might also want to use a different brand of drive.
 

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