MacBook cd/DVD

I have just bought a 4 year old recon 13" MacBook. I am new to apple apart from an iPad. So I bought a starter book and cd for mac beginners. But I cannot get the cd to play. It goes in the slot ok but just sits there, faint sounds from inside. Eventually I have to eject it. I got another similar brand new disc, same thing happened. The drive itself seems o.k. It plays other cd/DVDs. The opp system is os x mountain lion which the disc is intended for.
I've struggled reading up on this but not getting anywhere. Can anybody help. Thanks ormegolf

Try testing that CD you purchased in another computer. It can be another Mac or a PC to see if it plays OK there.

MacBookcd/DVD

Hello and thanks for your reply. Yes it works O.K. on a borrowed high tech new Mac and,of course, Ive tried two identical discs in my mac. SoI am reasonably sure that wherever the problem is, its in the drive or I've even heard it mentioned that it might be a harddrive fault. Now Im getting worried. Ormegolf

It does sound like the optical drive may be at fault. I would try cleaning it to see if that resolves the problem. I recommend buying a can of compressed air and blowing several short blasts into the drive. That may clear out dust or debris that could be blocking or obscuring the laser light. If that doesn't work, you'll either have to change out the drive or buy an external model to use.

Thanks chscag for your advice. Ive bought a brand new USB 2.0 External drive but Im still having problems. These vary and follow no patterns. Plug the drive in using two usb cables into two slots as recommended. Some DVDs work the majority do not. The drive makes what appear to be correct noises, but sometimes it makes a knocking noise in a sequence and most times it refuses to release the disc. Then I have to unplug the whole thing and connect it to a Windows PC so I can get the dvd out. The original CD provided by "Mac for beginners" still isent doing anything apart from refusing to come out. So, presumably, something else is amiss. Any ideas? Ormegolf P.S. The external drive works more or less o.k.on my windows laptop. But Ive clicked the "Mac" option and it is definitely mac compatable

Just about any off the shelf USB optical drive is Mac compatible so that shouldn't be a problem. It doesn't sound like a hardware problem if the drive works OK attached to a Windows computer. A problem with using an external tray loading optical drive attached to your Mac is that the Mac operating system is designed to eject disks using software rather than hardware.

I have an external Samsung optical drive that I occasionally have to force eject a disk even though it's a tray loader. The CD you're having problems with could also be defective. Sometimes a warped or scratched CD will refuse to eject.

Thanks again chscag. Ive managed to narrow down where the fault lies. The CD is O.K., it works on another mac that I borrowed. The optical drive on the Mac is dodgy but, by a coincedence, the brand new external drive has also got a fault, or, should I say, is not up to the task. Thats the trouble with buying from ebay, I just clicked on one that sounded O.K. and it was cheap!! But, not fit for purpose, O.K for films etc and that is all. Ive now ordered another drive at twice the price, but a similar one I borrowed does the trick. Anyway, thanks again for your help Ormegolf