Problem with CDs reading on imac

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Oct 13, 2011
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My CD/DVD reader has started working intermittently with the CD portion. Reads professional made CDs most times but not always and not so much with CDs burned on PCs. DVDs are read fine. I am using an imac with Mac OS 10.6.8. The CDs all read ok on an older imac that I have.
 
Joined
May 18, 2008
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Amberley, Canterbury, New Zealand
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.
Almost everything you mention seems to point to a faulty optical drive, or maybe some dirt on the laser lens. The way the CDs were burned on the PC may be the cause of non-reading on the iMac (a factor that is mentioned in many forum posts) but I can't explain the difference between reading of CDs and DVDs.

Try a lens cleaning disk in the first instance, or see if you can reach in (very carefully) with a long cotton bud soaked in cleaning (isopropyl) alcohol, to clean the lens.
 

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