IMac CD problem

[Hawkins]

I have a CD stuck in my IMAC. It did not appear as an on screen icon or in ITunes when inserted, and I am unable to eject either by using the keyboard(command+eject) or the drop down box in Controls. Does anyone know any other key combination that would forcibly eject in these circumstances ? It is an old machine which Apple now regard as obsolete and are therefore not prepared to provide support.

 

[ferrarr]

My first suggestion is to restart your Mac, and see if it appears? Here are some other options to try, How to Eject a CD From Your Mac: 12 Steps (with Pictures).

 

[IWT]

Member ferraris (Bob) has provided you with a link that should probably be bookmarked for all Mac users. It is very helpful and comprehensive.

I suspect that many of the suggestions will not produce a success in your case because you said that the CD was not visible in iTunes, on the Desktop and - I presume - not in Finder?

Of all the methods described, I've found that Restarting Your Mac whilst holding down Left Click on the Mouse was the most successful.

Also, again I am assuming, your "old" iMac has its own internal Optical Drive? Dust, debris or malalignment may be the cause. That will require a bit of effort on your part using a can of compressed air - carefully! Other suggestions about tilting the iMac etc are mentioned in the article.

Good luck. Please post back.

Ian

 

[pm-r]

Member ferraris (Bob) has provided you with a link that should probably be bookmarked for all Mac users. It is very helpful and comprehensive.

I presume it's a slot-loading optical drive so I will mention a method that has worked fo me when nothing else did — good sticky dould-sided sticky tape wrapped around a thin tongue depressor or creditcard cut into a thin 1" strip and inserted through the slot to try and attach the sticky tape to the disc and then use a pair of flat thin tweezers as well to grasp the optical disc and pull the **** thing out.

Tray-load Optical drives should have a hidden button you can press to force eject any disc, but the double-sided tape and tweezers trick may still be needed.

That method never failed for me when used as a last resort. So good luck.



- Patrick
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[techiesteve]

All good suggestions above. If the worst comes to the worst and you must have the CD back, the iMac will need dismantling along with the optical drive. This usually happens if its a hardware fault causing the gate to stay down over the slot. If the CD is of no importance and OD isn't making any annoying seeking noises the cheapest and easiest option is to buy a USB external DVD writer.

 

[pm-r]

If the worst comes to the worst and you must have the CD back, the iMac will need dismantling along with the optical drive. This usually happens if its a hardware fault causing the gate to stay down over the slot.

I have never had a CD or dvd disc damaged using the double-sided tape and tweezers method I mentioned above. Especially if double-sided tape is also wrapped around each tongue of the tweezers.

And with a bit of force when withdrawing the disk, one can usually overcome any stuck mechanical piece.

But certainly not knocking your suggestion of buying a USB external CD/DVD writer/reader, many of which often outperformed the drive units that Apple often used.


- Patrick
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[techiesteve]

But certainly not knocking your suggestion of buying a USB external CD/DVD writer/reader, many of which often outperformed the drive units that Apple often used.

- Patrick
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The Apple OD was very unreliable. I remember one customer had 3 replaced under APP, when that expired and it failed again she bought an external.

 

[chscag]

Lots of folks complained when Apple stopped providing an optical drive with their machines, but in my opinion, it was a good move by Apple. My two external inexpensive USB drives work great with my 2017 iMac.

 

[jasongoldworthy]

as much as the disk sounds stuck it also sounds like the ODD has failed and that's why it never appeared in finder or iTunes.


so id say either leave it in place if the disk isn't needed or as others here have said it will require taking the iMac apart removing the optical drive and then taking the optical drive apart and removing the disk,

and as its then already dead you could either get a replacement drive from Ebay or use a USB drive.