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13" aluminum unibody, 2.0 or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor.

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Repair "blocked" optical drive

I've got a seemingly common "blocked" drive problem where there is a physical blockage of the optical drive preventing discs from being inserted. I've tried disassembling the Macbook and the optical drive and there appears to be a small, for lack of a better term, arm blocking the disc slot. This arm is just sticking up in the way and I really don't see what the point of it is. Is this the problem? How should the internals of the super multi DVD rewriter look?

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You will need an SATA to USB adapter for this "fix" as you will need to power the DVD player while you reset the mechanism. Search for Dual Drive kit on the site.

Step 1 : unscrew 4 Phillips screws on the upper lid of the DVD player.

Step 2 : gently slide the lid 2mm towards the SATA bay, and then open the lid upwards. The remaining tape may tear apart which doesn't affect reassembly.

Step 3 : plug the SATA/USB adapter into the player's SATA socket and then to your Macbook, then gently push the metallic Left arm all the way back past the DVD spinning plate until the player resets the mechanism. Let go of the Left arm when the mechanism is triggered. Both arms will return to their idle positions.

Be careful not to push on any blue plastic piece but just on the flat perpendicular metal area of the arm (all the way at the end of it, near the center of the player) Not doing so may damage your DVD player and the discs you insert into it in the future.

Reassemble the lid and test the player with a disc.

Enjoy

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The drive thinks a disk is in it. Usually this is from mechanical failure and you just can't do anything about it but replace the drive. Here's the Apple discyussion on it: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/237...

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I have similar problem, It won't take DVD but later after force it took but did nothing. I had to open macbook and DVD drive. I assembled DVD drive again but once DVD inserted it will take and do no action. That DVD won't come out at all, no matter if you press eject button or reboot macbook. I had to again open DVD drive and take out the DVD manually.

There should be a better way to fix this, else I will have to end up buying a new DVD drive.

I replaced my macbook wifi card, CPU fan and Keyboard and now this one is the last thing I guess.

Any pointer to fix this?

Thanks

Update

If I replace with New OEM drive like Sony or Hitachi of the same model will there be any problem from driver perspective?

Will that function the way it should be from OSX perspective?

Apple's own bluetooth keyboard also works even if you are in troubleshooting mode.

you know, the reason I replaced wifi card was to have the same advantage from OSX. It connects quickly, external wifi card may have their own challenges.

Apple is Apple, it makes products that works but once broken you have to only replace.. I found sometimes is easy and cheaper because if you have take your laptop to repair shop and pay service charges and product cost which anyways would be higher. Instead we can buy individual parts and replace our selves, as long as Apple fits replaceable parts not like new retina macbook.

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