My MacBook won't stop ejecting discs that aren't there

August 26, 2008 12:57 PM

My MacBook's optical drive makes constant eject noises.

So this has been happening since I got the computer (April), and it's finally pushed me over the edge. It's intermittent, happens when the drive is empty (so it's not something stuck in there), and happens when the computer is on/lid open (not when it's asleep with the lid closed, like other reports I found online). Sometimes it'll be silent for a few hours and then start ejecting 10, 15 times in a row.

I made an appointment with the Genius Bar, but the earliest I could get in is Friday, and I'm worried that the MacBook will be well-behaved for the appointment. Here's what I've tried so far:

- Inserting/ejecting media (also the drive works fine otherwise)
- Resetting the PRAM
- Repairing permissions
- Repairing the startup disk

Any other basic troubleshooting measures I should go through?

posted by cosmic osmo to computers & internet (5 comments total)

I don't know why, but mine was doing this for over a week then suddenly stopped on its own. I also tried all of the above methods you outlined, nothing worked. Gremlins?
posted by nougat at 1:07 PM on August 26, 2008

Check to see if bluetooth is working.

You might find that bluetooth is "missing". i.e. the mac doesn't think it has any bluetooth installed (use System Profiler to find out).

Also - does the Macbook have trouble sleeping?

If this is the case then this is a hardware issue and you need to send back to Apple.

You can get around it by:

* Shutdown mac.
* Pull out battery
* Pull out power cable
* Press and hold power button for five seconds.

This should fix the problem for a random amount of time. Usually a few days. Sometimes less. Sometimes more.
posted by schwa at 1:39 PM on August 26, 2008

Oh and also discussions.apple.com is a pretty good resource for these kinda of issues. This particular one has cropped up on there again and again.
posted by schwa at 1:39 PM on August 26, 2008

Bluetooth seems alright, showing up in system profiler and turning on and off in preferences.

Tried the battery/power button fix, too (saw that one on the Apple discussions, forgot to mention it) and it doesn't seem to have done anything. The threads I saw over there made it sound like a problem that was happening while the lid was closed and the computer asleep; that's the only time my drive DOESN'T seem to be ejecting. So I dunno. Guess I'll have to wait to hear what the Genius says.
posted by cosmic osmo at 2:13 PM on August 26, 2008

My Powerbook is coming back from repairs tomorrow with the same problem - as far as I know, the techs just replaced the SuperDrive (I'm at the end of warranty). For a while I could make the drive eject on command by tapping the palm rest over where the drive was, but it eventually died completely, although it still showed up in System Profiler. Can you still insert a disc into the drive?

(FWIW, mail-in repairs are faster than the Genius Bar a lot of the time. I'm in Northern VA, and our Apple stores are always swamped.)
posted by timetoevolve at 2:38 PM on August 26, 2008