iMac DVD player no longer working

[andrew lancaster]

Hi there.

My 2011 iMac has finally stopped playing DVDs. It as been a bit hit and miss for ages - I’ve used a can of compressed air a few times over the past couple of years to jog it back into life but now it really is just refusing to play anything. This morning I read online to wrap a credit card in a specsaver type of cloth and gently insert that into the slot and move it around a bit to see if that helped. It didn’t. Nothing plays at all.

As it is an elderly machine, I don’t think it will be worth having the unit replaced - even if this is possible - and I wondered it an external USB DVD drive would work? I thought I would ask before splashing out on one just in case they don’t work at all …

Thank you!

Andrew

[Stephen Watson]

An external drive should be fine. I got one off eBay for my MacBook Pro which has no DVD drive. It was a cheap one and worked fine but about 1/3 the speed when ripping CDs compared to Apple’s.

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

> On 1 Aug 2020, at 08:56, 'andrew lancaster' via Sussex Mac User Group <sm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> Hi there.

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[andrew lancaster]

Thanks! That is very helpful!

Andrew.

Sent from my iPad

> On 1 Aug 2020, at 09:35, 'Stephen Watson' via Sussex Mac User Group <sm...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> An external drive should be fine. I got one off eBay for my MacBook Pro which has no DVD drive. It was a cheap one and worked fine but about 1/3 the speed when ripping CDs compared to Apple’s.

> To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/F4C5BB3A-02D2-4FF9-9E5A-3DB28E3AA7FD%40icloud.com.

[Derek Wright]

What make type/make/spec of drive did you buy - I am getting the same problem on my Mac Pro circa 2009.

Thanks for any info

[andrew lancaster]

Hi Derek

I haven’t yet bought one - but will have to. 

Andrew. 

Sent from my iPhone

On 2 Aug 2020, at 19:10, Derek Wright <cwo...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Stephen Watson]

I can’t give you details on it as I haven’t got the manual and the DVD drive has nothing to identify it. However, it looks just like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-External-Slot-DVD-CD-RW-Drive-Burner-for-Apple-Macbook-Pro-Air-MAC-PC-Laptop/353130812734?hash=item52383c953e:g:ZpEAAOSwwFlfAxp9

I think a pop out drawer one would be better. I had a CD I’d burned myself and had stuck my own label on. The drive refused to eject it so it took it apart, removed the CD and put it back together. It no longer works! If it had had a pop out drawer I don’t think that would have happened. It was fine until I played my self-labelled CD though...

Hope that helps.

Stephen

You meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it. ~ Carl Jung

On 2 Aug 2020, at 19:10, Derek Wright <cwo...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Derek Wright]

Thank you - one on order

Derek

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