cd drive not recognizing mac disks

OS 10.2.8 G4

The cd drive / burner will NOT recognize a cd burned on a mac including the system disks. It will recognize a cd burned on a pc. It will sometimes recognize a blank cd, but gives a -43 error when I click the OK button.

Also, <command><option> (rebuild desktop) is not working.
Also, booting from a cd by holding down the "c" key is not working.

I borrowed an external cd drive from a friend. The G4 will recognize all cd's (pc, mac, and blank) from this drive. I used it to perform a Software Restore but that did not help. I cannot do a Clean Install since holding down the "c" key is not working.

Any suggestions?

repair permissions, zap the pram... and rebooot the system, see what happens after you complete those tasks.

PowerBookG4 said:

repair permissions, zap the pram... and rebooot the system, see what happens after you complete those tasks.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion... I repaired the permissions 3 times. It keeps having to repair ./usr/share/man/man1/less.1 and more.1 over and over. Then I rebooted while holding down the command option p r keys until the second bling. Then rebooted again. Still not fixed, except now it is reading one less PC burned cd. Is it possible for the drive to be bad or need cleaning and still read some cd's? Also, command option (rebuild desktop) is still not working.

Any other suggestions?

Mary

If you are running OS X, you can not rebuild the desktop. I believe that option was only available in OS 9 or less.

rman said:

If you are running OS X, you can not rebuild the desktop. I believe that option was only available in OS 9 or less.

Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. What about booting from a CD install disk? Is holding down the "c" key correct? That is not working.

Yes, that is correct. Insert your install CD into the CDROM drive. Reboot your system, press and hold the c key until you see or heard your sysem accessing the CD.

rman said:

Yes, that is correct. Insert your install CD into the CDROM drive. Reboot your system, press and hold the c key until you see or heard your sysem accessing the CD.

Click to expand...

So if that does not work, does that mean the drive has is bad or can it still be a software issue? It will read a PC formatted disk, but not Mac or blank.

Issue

maclady said:

So if that does not work, does that mean the drive has is bad or can it still be a software issue? It will read a PC formatted disk, but not Mac or blank.

Click to expand...

i am having the same problem except my superdrive is now not being recognized and my eject cd key on my keyboard is non responsive. any takers?