Ok, my emac has only a combo drive as opposed to a super drive. A few weeks ago, it just out of the blu stopped burning cd's (it still reads them and dvd's though). I had a look in the burning tab in itunes and it said CD burner HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4881B. Now when I go to system profile, that same thing comes under ATA-3 Bus. But then I have another option ATA-6 Bus which contains Maxtor 6Y080L0, a serial number (which the other doesn't) and information on the capacity and availability of my hard drive.

Is it possible that somehow, my mac has gotten confused somewhere down the track, and if so, how do I rectify this? Or has my combo drive simply sh*t itself?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Can you say what error the eMac presented you with upon failure to burn?

Ok, it does everything normally (checking media, burning disk - initializing, writing) and then makes lots of "zooming" noises, like it's trying to burn, for about 5 minutes. Then an error message comes up "The attempt to burn a disc failed. The drive failed to respond properly, unable to recover or retry". After this, the disk gets jammed and the disk drive has a hissy fit for about the next 20 minutes.

And then against all my best intentions, I shut down or restart my computer (like just now) and it stops having a hissy fit and opens for me!

Okay - two possibilities:

1. The Combo Drive - at least it's recording part, is dead, and requires replacement.
   
2. The laser is dirty and needs cleaning - and to test that, try burning a CD at the lowest speed possible - ie: x1 or x2.

See how you go =)

cheers,

cw

The drive not ejecting is a feature not a flaw, prevents you from ejecting the disc during a burn.

OSX is supposed to unlock the drive once burning is complete, but it isn't completing so it isn't unlocking.

Thanks, I'll try burning at the lowest speed!

Hooray!!!! It's burning at x1. So my next silly question is how do I clean the laser? Is iot as simple as using one of those CD cleaners, or is there a more sophisticated method?

Squirt it with air from a bottle?

Or you could try / buy a Lens Cleaner - although I'm not certain of the best brand.
Ideally... I suppose, its a disc with extremely fine soft little brushes on it, into which one drops a cleaning solution and then inserts it to have it whirl around in there, polishing your lens like a soft buffing machine.

Anyone know of any other good reliable brand names?

cw

AddIt: Verbatim perhaps...

Awesome, I'll head down to the computer store tomorrow and pick one up (I'm impatient and can't wait for postage!!)

No need to go to a computer shop - most bargain-basement and two-dollar shops will have a CD lens cleaner disc.

B.

Got any firewire peripherals plugged in (iSight, HDs, etc)? My iSight completely buggered up CD burning in iDVD. Did exactly what you described, only with DVDs not CDs. Unplugged the iSight, tried again - presto, problem solved. Never had another problem since, so long as I remember to unplug the iSight before I burn a disc. Worth a try for you?

No firewire plugged in ..... but come to think of it, the problem started a little while after we got a firewire cable to connect the eMac and iBook (only occasionally and never continually left plugged in). We have since got a modem router which is working beautifully because we can both be on the internet and not sitting right next to each other!

Perhaps the ol' gal's just tired ....