Optical Drive Replacement Question/Issues - Working, but not correctly

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Hello,

I am trying to figure out what I've recently done wrong. I'm not a total hardware noob but I'm more familiar with Microsoft/Windows than I am with Apple/OSX. I am switching though, back to Mac.

I bought (online) a Late 2008 Aluminum - MB467LL/A - MacBook5,1 - A1278 - 2254 model Macbook. I have upgraded the RAM, hard drive, and swapped the CPU fan. The disc drive was giving me random errors and acting funny, so I decided to replace that as well. I did so, and it works - but not correctly. When my Macbook is powered on, if I try to put a disc in, it simply acts as if it's not powered on/connected. The disc just sits there - but if you push it in far enough and restart the Macbook, as soon as it 'resets,' the disc is pulled in, mounted, and when OSX loads, I can use the drive accordingly. But I have to put the disc there and restart... The replacement drive was listed as being compatible with this model but they do look different and they are different makes/models/manfs. It is a HL GS31N Superdrive Unibody Macbook Pro for A1278 A1342 A1286 optical drive.

So I'm wondering if I need to update drivers/firmware, or maybe I didn't do something... maybe I got a bad drive... Can anyone offer any pointers?

Thanks!

PS: This is what I show listed for my current drive:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS31N:

Firmware Revision: TA17
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose File > Refresh Information
MacBook, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)
 

chscag

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Getting the exact replacement optical drive is critical. It's not a matter of drivers or firmware, it's the hardware which matters. Apple optical drives are fragile as it is since they're slot loaders. You need to get an exact replacement not one that's "close".
 
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The one I purchased was listed as being compatible with my particular make/model. Are things like that to be avoided unless it's the same as what was factory-shipped?
 
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...also, it does work. It just requires restarting the Macbook in order for the optical drive to catch the disc, pull it in, read it, etc. Once I restart the computer, the drive works fine. It's only the initial issue of putting the disc in and getting the drive to catch it and pull it in. That's where I'm at... if that changes anything...
 

chscag

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Open your System Profiler application and tell us what it says about the drive.

It does sound like it's not the correct replacement drive if you've hooked up everything the way it should be. Did you double check your work?
 
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I already did, in the initial post. That's copied directly from System Information. I shall post again just to be sure:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS31N:

Firmware Revision: TA17
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose File > Refresh Information

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MB51.007D.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.32f8


Hardware wise, I'm not to bad at putting things together and doing minor upgrades. In this case, I've swapped my RAM, HD, and CPU fan, and battery all just fine. With the optical drive, I watched some videos - as I did with the others - just because I'm not sure what differences there are with Mac hardware. I pulled the old one out, saved it, and installed the new one. The overall design is only slightly different from that of the one that was already inside.

I saw a post that mentioned reinstalling OS all together, just in case. I have tried that as well, along with opening it back up to double check I didn't miss anything. And like I said, the drive itself works, but it requires that restart/reboot to catch the disc and then function accordingly. It will even eject via the keyboard or commands inside of OS X. That's why I thought maybe there was a driver or firmware issue... or that maybe the drive is bad, or I didn't do something that must be done with that type of hardware swap... again, not really sure. I can put the old one back in, but since it works - though in a weird way - I want to say it's user-error. I'm hoping maybe I missed something obvious - or more seasoned eyes see something I don't.
 

chscag

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Sorry about missing that info in your initial post or I wouldn't have asked for it again. It does appear to be an Apple drive and certainly looks like mine when I run my System Profiler.

If you've hooked up everything correctly, you could have received a drive that's not working the way it should. Is there any chance you can exchange it for another? Or, you can live with it the way it is. I use my optical drive so infrequently lately that I could probably do without it. Anyway, Apple has abandoned the optical drive in all its new machines.
 

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