Disc drive issue interferes with Snow Leopard installations
updated 11:50 am EDT, Fri September 4, 2009
Discs ejected before they can run
A continuing problem with the optical drives in Mac notebooks is now preventing people from installing Snow Leopard, according to discussions on Apple's support forums. Affected systems may initially accept a disc, only to eject it without mounting. Within the problem group machines may reject all discs, only DVDs, or only some particular DVDs. The Snow Leopard upgrade is sold only on DVDs.
Proposed solutions have included checking firmware and PRAM, and/or cleaning out the interior of a drive, but only modest success has been achieved so far. The problem may moreover be independent of any particular drive model, as some Mac owners are reporting problems with replacement drives, potentially even external ones. Apple has yet to offer an official explanation for drive troubles or suggest a solution.
If you have another Mac
09/04, 12:39pm reply
I have a iMac early 2006 that had this problem. It was an Intel Core Duo that was upgraded to a Core 2 Duo and I was worried that it would not work at all. First the DVD read but then it did not. It would read on my MacBook pro but not my iMac. So I restarted my MBP holding down the T button and then used a Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 cable and mounted the DVD that way. It installed perfectly. Hope that helps a few.
alpich
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2008
Which drives are affected?
09/04, 03:07pm reply
Does anyone know which optical drives are affected?
BTW, thanks for that bit of info, alpich.
chefpastry
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2005
clone it to a thumb drive
09/04, 06:58pm reply
I took my disk and made a disk image then used Disk Utility and the restore function to clone the install to a 8GB thumb drive. Then installed Snow Leopard to the rest of my computers.
macjockey
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2004
Ease of use
09/07, 06:27pm reply
Wow I love it when fanboys say Macs are awesome cause 'It just works' yet reading from the workarounds above because of a problematic slot drive, I guess Mac users are wrong.
Its all well and good to offer these type of solutions but what about people who buys mac because of the conceived notion of 'it just works'. Basically your average joe who has no idea how to zap pram or clone to usb or use a FW and use it in target mode.
Macs suck!
ilovestevejobs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2007