Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[wove]

I am finishing up restoring a 17" Powerbook G4. Everything is working as it should with the exception of the Optical drive, which does not properly eject. It starts ejecting, then the media must strike something, the eject process stops and pulls the media back into the drive.

I have several working drives which I have used to install system and software, but the only way to get the media to eject is to leave the keyboard deck loose and hold it up out of the way when ejecting. I have not encountered this problem before and am at a loss to sort out what is blocking the media from ejecting. The media can be inserted normally and works normally, but does not fully eject.

I did a search on the forum and did not see any mentions of similar problems or solutions and would appreciate any ideas about what is  blocking the eject. It seems that something is in the way, or the drive is miss aligned. Thanks for reading.

[aBc]

No dings or external dents in the outer case, especially near the right internal mounting point or along the front of the case where drive ejects? (Had one here with a fairly severe right corner dent that changed the position of that right front mount just enough to interfere with eject.)



Other than that, a very sparse light coating of lithium grease applied to the drive’s internal metal pivot arms and other moving parts can do wonders.

If the keyboard being properly installed interferes -  that suggests the drive is somehow “higher” or otherwise out of normal position (from other possible damage?) for some unknown reason or another.

Is it an original optical drive or a replacement of some sort?

All red-dotted tabs correct and no other obstructions (rubber pads, etc.) to interfere here on the bottom side of the top?

[smilesdavis]

i love it, after restoring apple floppy drives, my tibooks need to have their cdroms serviced as well,

they all sort of work mechanically

[wove]

Thank you @aBc for responding. I have been working my way through some of that information. Of course I was kind of hoping there might be an answer along the lines of, "90% of the time it such and such dohickus that is bent out of shape." But reality tends more along the lines of fiddling around with a half dozen or so minor hard to see, hard to get right tweeks that are needed to get things working.

I did notice the pictures until I logged in to reply. What is the logic behind requiring a login before displaying pictures? In any event thanks for the suggestions and the pictures.

The drive is working fine and is the one from this PB G4. This unit was a lucky and rare find. From what I can tell from files on the hard drive it was in service for about 6 months before being stuck on a shelf and abandoned. The battery was stone cold dead, but took a full charge having ~80 cycles on it and now with a full charge it gives ~4 hours run time. There is not a scratch or dent on it. There was a missing keycap and the unit was filthy (from sitting for years in an attic?) And now I have been using daily.