Apple CD-Rom spits back out

I have what was a "known good" basic CD-ROM (internal) to my 8500. I've
used it several times. It was my "project" machine but now I'm returning
it to its original state.

Now when I put in a CD, any CD, it sits in the mac hine for about 15
seconds, and then spits it back out.

Apple Sys Profiler says it's a Matsushita 8x and when something is
attempted to load, it doesn't indicate anything loaded.

Disk Utility sees it there in its original SCSI position of 3. There are
no SCSI conflicts. There are no external SCSI devices hanging on it. I
have two SCSI internal drives at 0 and 1.

I don't want to waste time/money replacing it if it's software. I
installed a new system, after initializing the drive and it's no go. I
put in the "known good" disk in and it does the same thing, so it cannot
be system software. Both are OS 9.

I've tried booting off it with the "C" key. The mac blithely ignores it
and goes to the SCSI drive. It stays inside until the extension parade
starts at bootup.

I've ensured that the discs are sitting correctly in the tray.

I'm stuck, sam

On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 9:59:58 +1000, Wanzie wrote
(in message
<sam452-4D8923.19595801072003 DeleteThis @news-central.giganews.com>):

 > I have what was a "known good" basic CD-ROM (internal) to my 8500. I've
 > used it several times. It was my "project" machine but now I'm returning
 > it to its original state.

Has it had a lot of use (or moderate use in a smoky environment)?
Sounds like the laser/lens has died.

 > Now when I put in a CD, any CD, it sits in the mac hine for about 15
 > seconds, and then spits it back out.

Indicating the machine knows it was given a disk, but can't read
it.

 > Apple Sys Profiler says it's a Matsushita 8x and when something is
 > attempted to load, it doesn't indicate anything loaded.

Sys profiler is unlikely to show a volume until the volume is
actually mounted, so this isn't a surprise, given other symptoms.

 > Disk Utility sees it there in its original SCSI position of 3. There are
 > no SCSI conflicts. There are no external SCSI devices hanging on it. I
 > have two SCSI internal drives at 0 and 1.

So the cabling and controller are, apparently, OK.

 > I don't want to waste time/money replacing it if it's software. I
 > installed a new system, after initializing the drive and it's no go. I
 > put in the "known good" disk in and it does the same thing, so it cannot
 > be system software. Both are OS 9.
 >
 > I've tried booting off it with the "C" key. The mac blithely ignores it
 > and goes to the SCSI drive. It stays inside until the extension parade
 > starts at bootup.

That can happen anyways - I find command-option-shift-delete ('find
a system somewhere other than the startup disk') to be more
reliable - YMMV.


 > I've ensured that the discs are sitting correctly in the tray.
 >
 > I'm stuck, sam

Is dead jim :-(
[Actually, there is one circumstance I've seen similar (on my SO's
7500) - another CD had some grime on the edge of the hole, and
became 'glued' in the drive - the machine didn't see that disk, and
the tray would eject empty, any other disks inserted wouldn't show.
Probably unlikely but...]

Have Fun
Martin<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->