Optical Drive Disc Removal Technique, or Foreign Object Removal

Written By: Andrew Bookholt
  • Comments: 16
Optical Drive Disc Removal Technique, or Foreign Object Removal

Difficulty

Easy

Steps

3

Time Required

1 - 10 minutes

Introduction

Did your optical drive devour your favorite CD? Did your 3-year-old fill the slot with coins? Worry no more! This guide will show you how to remove a jammed disk or foreign object from your optical drive.

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    • With the optical drive removed from the computer, remove the screws securing the top panel of the optical drive.

    My Powerbook G4 1.67GHz had two additional brackets on either side of the drive, secured with phillips screws slightly smaller than the 4 main drive screws. Both brackets had to be removed to open the drive case. #0 Phillips worked, but I had to put great pressure on the driver.

    srbrownsc01 -

    Hi iFixIt! Love your website! Am using it to repair a friend's MBP 13-inch. Instructions for disassembling the optical drive call for a PH00 screwdriver. I have to use a PH0 on the one I'm working on. So, as an FYI, some of the bit sizes listed may differ from your particular situation. Thank you! Jim Willard - Panama City, FL

    Jim -

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    • With the screws removed, shift the top panel slightly toward the rear of the optical drive so the retaining tabs clear the body of the drive.

    • Lift the top panel off the optical drive.

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    • Remove any objects stuck in the optical drive.

    • If a disk is stuck in the drive, simply lift it off the spindle motor.

    I successfully unstock the disc, but when reassembled, the computer does exactly the same thing as when the disc was inside, it seems that the mechanism is stock in position, so it doesn't move from there.

    Ciimoc -

    I was able to get the disc out but the drive was shot, good thing I got a new to put in. A spring- loaded lever in the front of the drive was in the up position so it would let the disc out.

    mr5989 -

    I was able to actually repair my unit, it does load discs, but then started to produce noise, and when ejected, any disk was ruined with a single large scratch on data side, I suspected about some dirt causing the scratch, but no, it was a small screw trapped on a magnet inside... the only thing I did was replace screw into suspected place and reassemble the hole thing, then worked like new!

    BTW, great info, I will be not able to disassemble my mac without your excellent guides

    Regis -

    I can take my computer apart but I can't get rid of that first note I wrote!.

    I had a very similar revelation. On step 53 of the strip down the lower mounting screw was missing and when I opened the optical drive there it was. Unfortunately, the super-drive is kaput and looks as if I will have to do the whole process again to install a new one.

    I can't wait! great guides and great fun.

    David Pagan -

    After seeing this great tutorial, I think I'll buy an external CD drive and connect it via USB for the few times I use it. I stupidly, accidentally, stuck a SD Card into the CD slot.

    Irv -

    May I suggest another bullet point: If both CDs and DVDs spin for a while, then get ejected without playing, wipe the lens (bottom left of photo) with a piece of tissue. This worked for me. Anyway, many thanks for this guide.

    Rob -

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Author

Andrew Bookholt

578096 Reputation

8 comments

Worked perfectly !!!

zhp -

There should be a caveat. The screws are extremely tiny and can strip easily, besides get lost. Be sure to work away from the edge of a table. On my MBP early 2008 17" there are three brackets, it's a good idea to snap a photo of the layout or mark with a pen to help re-orient.

Also though my case looked like the one above, the label was reversed and the drive was a Panasonic made in China. On trying to open the case per the instructions it should be noted there's a circuit board looking piece of plastic with the ribbon cable, remove first by prying away.

macvoodoodr -

Also when I got the left side unhinged, the right side would not slide so it took twisting the top clockwise, the right side stayed attached though I got the case cracked about 45 degrees and got my system install disk out. On reassembly be very careful to line up the top holes to the metal underneath, and check first around the case edge that it is completely seated. Don't over tighten the screws or they will strip.

Never the less on the rear bracket that fastens to the logic board hole the screws wouldn't take and the bracket stayed loose. Am considering a dab of epoxy in the holes wiped flush to re-attach the bracket after drying.

macvoodoodr -

Hi Andrew, I managed to do this stage to remove a stuck disc after all the Apple suggestions failed and found it straight forward and interesting. However after reinstalling everything back in place and powering up I found everything working as before with the exception of the WiFi/Bluetooth and possibly the camera,although I haven't tested that yet. Due to enlarging the screen on my IPad to view stage 5 in greater detail, the written word on the right Was off screen so I missed the part regarding the small clear plastic cable retainer and also the part about aligning the connector . Is it possible this could have a bearing on my lack of wifi and Bluetooth? I notice in some other comments that people have broken this small clear plastic retainer and although I didn't see anything laying on the logic board would that last be relevant to the missing hardware? Regards Peter

Peter Mayo -

Excellent instructions. I dismantled my 2006 macbook, and my optical drive, to retrieve an installation disk that mysteriously wasn't booting. Funnily enough, the drive was empty. Ha, ha. Then I noticed the disk on the mantelpiece... . However, the whole experience was educational and kinda fun.

Did I reassemble it? No: almost everything, especially the software was on its last legs, so I succumbed to my wife's persistent demands to put it out of its misery. Lovely machine though. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Sob.

Peter Hancock -

Easily got the CD out, now if I knew what broke! I get a

“USB Accessories Disabled

Unplug the accessory using too much power to re-enable USB devices.

Craig Monsen -

Not easy at all. Between steps 1 and 2 there was another step: on both sides (left and right) there were clams tightly screwed to hold the top panel on place. They were almost impossible to unscrew.

Björn Forseth -

My mystery is why the SuperDrive keeps spitting out the disk a few seconds after insertion. It seems to spin up momentarily.

As to the other problem of the mechanism acting like a disk is loaded wile it isn't,

After about a day running this loop in a terminal window : $ while true; do drutil eject -drive internal ; done

eventually the mechanism restored itself to the normal ready-to-accept-disk state. It now spits out perfectly good dvds. I may have to attempt to clean the optics.

gtp -