System profiler no longer recognized my drive, and the DVD within it was firmly stuck.

If you are using an external device please make sure that it is connected and powered properly.

Nothing works, including emailing Apple, whose submit page says they do not reply to emails.

Supposedly theres a cable that normally goes bad that Apple stores can fix for around 100.

But its also common for the entire drive to go bad, which is 500 to replace.

Couple nights ago, the optical drive made a funny noise and woke me up.

It sounds very similar to opening up Disk Utility on my MacBook Pro, it looked for the internal optical drive.

In the past, I had opened up numerous iMacs and they were getting more complicated model by model.

I am certified to perform the repair, but since this iMac is covered under AppleCare, I decided to make an appointment with the MacGenius.

I replaced the disc drive with a known working used one and there is no change.

The drive wont except a disc unless it is shoved all the way in with tweezers.

Then it spins the disc, but never reads it and no icon appears.

Can anyone explain this faulty cable idea Ive had the computer apart six times.

Im getting to the point where I can have it all apart and back together again in about 20 minutes.

DVD went in and now no drive Did you take yours in jasonsuavo What did they say about it if you did.

No disc displays and the system profiler does not even recognize the disc burner.

No alternative method worked, and I tried everything within reason.

I bought my iMac used, so its not as if its under any kind of warranty still.

The drive is not being recognized by my system anymore, and the galling thing is that I have Roxio Toast installed because the CDDVD burner used to work.

Ive read a seemingly endless amount of forums in which people are having the same problem.

So I dont recommend you attempt this as it will void any warranty.

I replaced it with one off of eBay (searched for the model 85JCA).

All you need to change it is a suction cup and a torx bit set T6,T7,T8,T9,T10.

External Dvd Burner For Mac