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.