Force Eject CD on Intel-based Macbook

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My sister and I both have Macbooks with Intel Core Duo processors.

Today, my sister inserted a music CD into her computer (Legal merchandise or whatnot, so its not a burned CD)

The CD never loaded. The computer just made jerking sounds and never recognized the CD.

It is still inside the laptop and we cannot eject it.

We have tried the disc utility program and the CD doesn't show up on the list.

We have also tried holding down the mouse button as soon as we start the computer but it is to no avail.

iTunes and other programs do not recognize the hardware so we can't eject it through them.

There is no emergency eject button on this computer.

I don't know what to do!!

This happened to me before with a DVD but I don't remember how it was eventually ejected.

When starting up the computer, there is a huge time period between the music and the actual start up screen with the apple and the counter circle.

Please reply~~! :(
 
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sometimes when things like this happen to me, logging out and while at the login window, hitting the eject button has worked - as then, the mac isn't trying to read the CD. This has worked a few times for me.

I'm not sure what causes it. I have a few CD's which are write-protected and automatically eject themselves upon being inserted into computers. Perhaps this is something similar?

Anyway, try logging out and hitting eject. I don't know anything more advanced than that. I'm not sure if apple+e works at the login window, but it's also worth a shot. Here's hoping it works for you ;)
 
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Give this a go:

1. Restart the computer. If necessary, use the reset/interrupt button.
2. Immediately after the system startup tone, press and hold the Command-Option-O-F key combination. The computer starts up to a text-only screen, indicating that you are in Open Firmware.
3. At the prompt, type: eject cd
4. Press Return.
5. Type: mac-boot
6. Press Return

Other tips:

Try a pair of precision tweezers to attempt to grab the edge of the disc if it is not too far into the drive. You can also try using a thin strip of cardboard or plastic with double-stick tape on it to attempt to fish out the wayward disc.

I also found this:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060814211608242

And this:

http://www.silvermac.com/2006/dvd-stuck-in-macbook-pro/
 
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By far the simplest way is to reboot the machine, and press and hold the trackpad button at the startup tone until the disk comes out. Not sure I'd be recommending the 'pull it out with tweezers' approach until all other avenues had been visited ...
 
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1. Restart the computer. If necessary, use the reset/interrupt button.
2. Immediately after the system startup tone, press and hold the Command-Option-O-F key combination. The computer starts up to a text-only screen, indicating that you are in Open Firmware.
3. At the prompt, type: eject cd
4. Press Return.
5. Type: mac-boot
6. Press Return

We found that under Help but it said it won't work on Intel based computers.


Tried the cardboard thing though. :) Its out!

Thanks everyone!!
 
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Climb the mountain, young grashopper, and ask the old article 88275 who lives at the top. He knows everything.
 
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This very same thing happened to my MacBook a couple months ago with a (legitimate, commercial) DVD.

I found article 88275 and it did not help. I wound up using the method of working a thin plastic card (thinner than a credit card) back and forth until it popped out.

It seems heat has something to do with this. I let my MacBook cool for a few hours before applying the card trick.

Glad to hear you got out of your pickle. :)
 
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The card stops the disc from spinning which in turn causes it to be ejected....it's one of those fixes that aren't supposed to work like hitting an older tv to clear up reception problems.

If this didn't work someone suggested using precision tweezers to try to grab a hold of the disc if it wasn't too far inside the slot. I don't know if the disc could be damaged or not by this method.

I read that years ago there were a few commercial discs released with the ability to freeze up a drive like and refuse to eject. These discs clearly stated that they were not CD's and not intended for playback in Mac/PC

The story is 4 yrs old but here's the link:

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2002/05/10.10.shtml
 
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Thanks again everyone :)
 
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I've just had this same problem with the DVD trying to eject but not even peaking out of the slot before it goes back in. I read on the mac support website that discs nonstandard discs don't operate correctly with the superdrive. The disc I had in was standard except for the area around the centre hole which was burred. I don't know, maybe the mechanics couldn't get a grip on this sort of disc.

Anyway, I solved it and got the disc out using an ingenious combination of a phonecard (like a credit card but thinner plastic and with no embossed numbers on it, meaning that it will go into the slot easily) and some thin but wide brown parcel tape (pretty sticky). This is how i did it:

take a strip of the tape long enough to go around the card (lengthwise). Wrap it around the card tightly but without causing the card to bend up and secure it to itself. Make sure that the sticky side of the tape is outermost so that you'll be able to grip the disc with it.

now hold the card in your right hand with the laptop in front of you. this will create the right angles for inserting the card. insert the card with the tape around into the slot at the angle you're naturally holding it at. go in from the end of the slot which is furthest away from you. Once in about 3 quarters of an inch, pull the card towards you. you should feel the tape gripping the slot dust cover. keep moving the card towards you until it hits the a stop halfway across the slot. this stop is something which appears after putting a disc in to prevent the user from inserting anything else. The device moves out of the way when the eject button is pressed. now with the card in position, press the eject button. As the disc starts to move, wiggle the card to try and get it to stick to the disc inside and pull gently. you'll only have a couple of seconds to d this before the disc goes back in. if you get it right you will get enough of the disc out of the slot to be able to grab it with your fingers and get it the rest of the way out.

This may sound complicated but i managed it on the first attempt. I'd be interested to know if this works for anyone else!

Good luck!
 
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Remove with one line of terminal code........ !!!!!!

I had an issue recently while trying to read a manual cd for my Alpine stereo. This disk would promptly spin every time I turned the machine on, and would spin relentlessly and never eject no matter what I attempted.... But I found a way to eject any cd with one simple line of BSD code. This is what I did...

My Tutorial

moo.gif
 
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Thanks!
diskutil umount disk1
diskutil eject disk1
worked great on my mac.
 
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'battery pack cardboard' trick worked for me too

I too was unable to eject an audio CD from my Intel-based Macbook Pro (first generation). Surprisingly, the 'battery pack cardboard' trick worked for me like a charm :)

To make a long story short:
  1. Turn off computer.
  2. Prevent the CD/DVD from spinning by applying minor pressure on its side with a battery pack cardboard. (You'll be able to "feel" the round shape of the disk when you insert the cardboard to the thin opening and the cardboard touches the disk's side.)
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Within a few seconds you'll hear 2 attempts to read the disk.
  5. The disk will be ejected (while pushing back the cardboard).

cardboard_sm.jpg


The question is, shall I try the audio CD again? ;)
 
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didn't feel like restarting the computer, so I tried this and it worked like a charm:

1)open Terminal
2)copy this into it:
diskutil unmount disk1
diskutil eject disk1
3)press enter
4)cd comes out
 
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Force eject CD

I too was unable to eject an audio CD from my Intel-based Macbook Pro (first generation). Surprisingly, the 'battery pack cardboard' trick worked for me like a charm :)

To make a long story short:
  1. Turn off computer.
  2. Prevent the CD/DVD from spinning by applying minor pressure on its side with a battery pack cardboard. (You'll be able to "feel" the round shape of the disk when you insert the cardboard to the thin opening and the cardboard touches the disk's side.)
  3. Turn on the computer.
  4. Within a few seconds you'll hear 2 attempts to read the disk.
  5. The disk will be ejected (while pushing back the cardboard).

cardboard_sm.jpg


The question is, shall I try the audio CD again? ;)

I've tried everything (diskutil, drutil, boot with trackpad pressed), but ...

The "battery pack cardboard" was the only one solution that worked for me.

Thanks a lot....

about the question... I trashed the CD immediately ;)
 
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I figured it out!!

Restart your computer, and as it is rebooting, hold down the eject button. It shot the cd right out. I was so excited when this happened! :D
 
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Restart your computer, and as it is rebooting, hold down the eject button. It shot the cd right out. I was so excited when this happened! :D

Your lucky, I wasn't as fortunate as you =(

Recently I wanted to wipe my system and do a fresh install from my Snow Leopard disc, however when I tried ejecting the disc, it kept getting stuck. I had to open my macbook pro by hand, take the drive out, take the drive apart, and then take the disc out.

Unfortunately the disc was scratched to high **** but oh well.
 
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Beware the plastic disc

My dvd got stuck after I put it in with the clear plastic divider from the bottom of the stack went in with it. Very upset computer. Rubbed cardboard for a bit, not hard not much. 3 minutes later it popped out. It's a weird one. Really like to hear from Apple about this for Intel based Macs as it's a quite common problem that isn't really addressed in Help.
 

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