Can I have my CD back please

[jamesbird]

Ho hum - just put a new HD into a 12" tit powerbook, and reloaded OS X 10.3.9 from the Apple CD - Everything is fine EXCEPT, the CD does not show on the desk top and I cant eject the disk!
If I hold down the eject key or 'apple' E for 10 secs, the CD is mounted and opens on the desktop, but then if I 'eject' all that happens is the window closes - no disk is ejected.
The 'device manager' know there is a CD drive (and even the title of the resident CD)
Is there a magic eject sequence? Any idas?
All the best
James

 

[jmgalvin]

Did you go to Finder/Preferences and check "show CDs on desktop'?

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[ObviousTroll]

it sounds like the cdrom cable might have gotten jarred when you replaced the hd.

First - does the Mac recognize that it sell has CD? On my PB, About this Mac -> More Info -> ATA, shows the Superdrive on one ATA bus and the HD on the other. If you don't see the drive, the cable isn't connected properly.

Second - if the drive shows up on the ATA bus, do the disks show up in the /dev directory? A PB has one disk, called disk0 and if it has a CD in the drive, it will show up as disk1. To look for them, open a terminal window and do this:

ls -l /dev/disk*

You should see a group of entries that begin /dev/disk0 for the HD and, if the CD was detected, one or more entries that begin /dev/disk1. If you do not see them, then either the cable isn't quite right or the CD itself has failed.

 

[jamesbird]

Mr Obvious, it was obvious! The drive was intermittently appearing in the 'device manager' so I arrived at your conclusion that the ribbon cable was loose. 300 screws later (how can apple use so many similar but different screws in one product?) found the ribbon cable moved home about 1mm.
All is now happy in laptop land.
Thanks to both of you for getting back to me.
All the best
James

 

[DesperateHusband]

In the extreme right corner of the slot loading drives is an eject button that a paper clip will reach and cause a manual eject. This is similar to the tiny hole that tray loading cd drives allow to manaually eject a stuct disk.

Just make sure to only use this method in the extreme right corner of the insert slot. If you are careful, you can pull appart the film that protects the slot and actually see the button.

Then reboot your computer without a disk, and try inserting again to see if it is mounted and functions/ejects etc. Otherwise you may have a cable that is lose or disconnected that is causing your problem.