DVD stuck in MacBook Pro
Sat, 3 June 2006
Earlier this evening I inserted a blank DVD into my MacBook Pro wanting to burn some files. However, OS X never recognised the disc, nothing on the desktop, nothing in the Finder, not even in the Disk Utility. I pressed the Eject button, pressed and held F12 for a few seconds, but the disk was stuck.
I had a DVD stuck once before, even though recognised by the system, and I got it out after tilting the computer 45 degrees forward. But this time, whatever I did there was no eject mechanism sound at all, just a very quiet sound of the disk spinning up and slowing down every few seconds.
So I decided to use good old trick of holding down the mouse button while booting the computer up. Rebooted, held the trackpad button down - but nothing. Even more interesting is that the computer wouldn’t start up at all. The only thing I hear, following the Apple sound, is the disk spinning, possibly trying to read the boot sector and then slowing down. And this gets repeated forever. The screen stays grey, no Apple logo, nothing.
OK, another try, held down Cmd-Option-P-R, then held down D and finally held down even C while booting, but exactly same result - disk spins up and slows down few times, grey screen and a high blood pressure.
I thought, the computer is trying to boot from the optical drive but is unable to read the disc hence going into the endless loop. So I used a little trick, I inserted a small piece of thin battery pack cardboard just above the disc and twisted it (the cardboard) a little so the disk can’t spin when starting up. I turned the computer on and held down the trackpad button. I could hear the sound of the optical drive inside, not the spinning sound but rather sound of something moving ever so slightly. I heard it only two times and the third sound was a well known one - the offending DVD came out. The computer then happily booted the OS X. I looked up the disc very carefully and there were no faults with it at all, no bends, no scratches or cracks, just a perfect DVD.
When I think back I’m a little puzzled, why the computer is trying to boot from the DVD when I clearly told it I want the thing out by pressing the trackpad button. I was also going to reset PRAM as that may be where things could have gone wrong, namely not giving up on booting from Optical drive when it can’t read it. But Cmd-Option-P-R didn’t help either. Very strange.
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Posted in Hardware
MacPro.se - dagliga nyheter för professionella macanvändare said: Mon, 5 June 2006 at 17:06
[...] Har du en MacBook Pro? Då kan det vara bra att veta att om man har riktigt oflyt så kan exempelvis en DVD-skiva fastna i datorn. Läs mer här. [...]
Zachary Howe said: Tue, 6 June 2006 at 12:30
Man, I just found your blog…. but you’re a genius.
klot said: Tue, 13 June 2006 at 02:05
Genius your trick
sil180sr said: Tue, 13 June 2006 at 15:35
had the same problem! saved me a trip to the apple store.
nb said: Wed, 14 June 2006 at 05:34
Hey, thanks for the idea, but how did you twist the cardboard? I can’t get my disc to stop spinning?
thanks.
Felipe said: Thu, 22 June 2006 at 09:59
A regular audio Cd got stuck in my brand new MacBook, and none of the other tricks did any good. Then i used a business card which was given to me at the apple store when i was told i had to make an apointment, and it worked! great advise!
leo@macbookpro said: Fri, 23 June 2006 at 05:54
Thanks for your work-a-round. Realy helpfull. It works. Today I wound to install Bootcamp on my one day old MBP 1,83. So I need to burn the driver-cd for the windows stuff. Also, put an new CD-R into the slot-in-drive … thats was it. Nothing happend. Also …. looking on Apples Discussion site, where I found a URL to your blog.
Do you knwo, why my system profiler don´t know anything about a superdrive in my MBP?
Best regards
Leo@
Natasja said: Sun, 25 June 2006 at 09:03
I had the same problem, so thanks for the advise, it really worked!
Kineox said: Thu, 29 June 2006 at 05:56
Got the same problem with a DVDRW in my macbook’s superdrive. I insered a card (size of a credit card) in the drive, booting while holding the trackpad button. The dvd was stopped, but it wouldn’t get out. Then I moved the card to the left side of the superdrive and the DVD was ejected :D
Thank you very much for your great tip
Cowneko said: Sat, 1 July 2006 at 08:21
Thanks a lot man!
Seems like it’s quite a common problem.
Anyway your tip did the trick…what a relief when i heard the eject noise and the cd poping out……..
Jambo said: Sat, 1 July 2006 at 15:12
You saved my life! Am about to leave for Africa in two days and the last thing I needed was a beautiful but broken MacBook. Very clever solution that Apple would probably never recommend.
Adam said: Sun, 16 July 2006 at 22:52
Thanks for your tip, Same problem here, also solved by your tip. MBP 17″
Plethera said: Mon, 17 July 2006 at 08:28
You are the man… a total lifesaver! I had a bad cd and I tried everything under the sun, but the only thing that worked was this cd trick!
Zaid said: Sun, 23 July 2006 at 00:13
maaaan, your a the man, i loved the trick, it simply worked, arent you guys worries about the heatng problem!?!
matthew said: Thu, 27 July 2006 at 04:52
Think somone at applecare has seen this tip, just called with same problem and to a word they gave the same advice!!!!
David said: Sat, 5 August 2006 at 12:05
Jesus Christ that actually worked… After many discussion boards this was the only thing that worked! You are the man and if you have not already should get rich working for apple.
Jeff said: Sun, 6 August 2006 at 07:08
Thank you thank you thank you from yet another person with this same problem. You’re the wind beneath my wings.
chris said: Thu, 10 August 2006 at 08:13
WOO HOO! Thanks for the trick. The same thing happened to me, macbook 13″ black. It popped right out afterwords, thanks again.
portal-008 - Technology - Apple » DVD stuck in MacBook Pro said: Fri, 11 August 2006 at 07:55
[...] A simple way to remove that DVD or CD that your MacBook or MacBook pro doesn,,,,t want to eject. Number of users suggest this was the last thing they attempted before sending off the computer to Apple, and it worked. A simple way to remove that DVD or CD that your MacBook or MacBook pro doesn,,,,t want to eject. Number of users suggest this was the last thing they attempted before sending off the computer to Apple, and it worked. DVD stuck in MacBook Pro [...]
Nicole said: Tue, 15 August 2006 at 17:39
THANK YOU! This tip did the trick for my MacBook. I used a Victoria Secret Mailer haha instead of a battery pack.
Aerin said: Wed, 16 August 2006 at 15:50
Oh dear god, this just saved my life. I was seriously freaking the hell out. You’re amazing.
gee said: Sat, 19 August 2006 at 19:43
dude.
i got some porn stuck in my drive.
you saved me a ton of grieft and, well, i mighta jsut trashed my book and bought a new one rather than bring it in.
2wo said: Tue, 22 August 2006 at 20:26
it worked! just insert a business card (not credtit card) over the disc, then use any eject methods, finally disc out!
Roger said: Wed, 23 August 2006 at 03:33
Fantastic- this worked for me too. Unfortunately I still have a black screen and no boot up but at least the DVD is out.
Evo Shandor said: Sun, 27 August 2006 at 12:59
Thank you so much!!! Worked like a charm.
Clever trick.
- Evo
Ritva Murto said: Sun, 27 August 2006 at 22:09
Thank you! It worked. This in NOT what I expected when I got a Macbook. Wait till I tell the kids! They made me buy the thing in the first place.
Chris said: Tue, 29 August 2006 at 02:15
Just read most of the posts here, while a CD was stuck in my MBP. I left the computer turned on. When I got back after about 10 minutes the system had restarted and when I logged in to my account a window popped up saying that the disc needs to be ejected.
So, to make a long story short: just show some patience and let your mac handle the problem. No need to use business cards… ;-)
David said: Sat, 2 September 2006 at 23:47
ME TOO… worked great. i jumped through all the hoops- called tech support, went to the repair shop where they wanted to keep it for 3 days…. your trick worked GREAT!! i used a very thin card- just a bit thicker than paper, and folded in two. you need just enough to keep the disk from spinning it seems.
thanks!
Ian said: Sun, 3 September 2006 at 04:26
THANK YOU SO MUCH! This worked perfectly. You’re a genius!
Alex said: Wed, 6 September 2006 at 15:53
you saved my life! well at least a trip all the way to the other side of the town to the service provider. Thanks a lot!
Tom said: Wed, 13 September 2006 at 13:19
THANK YOU! I’ve been wrestling with this same issue for days on my girlfriend’s MacBook. Your process worked brilliantly!
Jonny said: Thu, 14 September 2006 at 09:38
Eureka! it works great had a CD stuck and it came out no trouble with the piece of cardboard. Tanks a lot!
Lennart said: Thu, 14 September 2006 at 11:02
I LOVE U MAN!!!! U SAVED MY DAY.!!! I had worked for over 6 hours on a project that i was ready to burn and guess what!!! The dvd got stuck, and its my second macbook and i was like ohh no i dont wanna go trough this, MY GOOD. I tried to restart several times and nothing happend, untill i redd your article. THANK U VERY MUCH!!! IF I COULD I GAVE U A BIG HUG, YOU ARE MY HERO MAN. THANKS A ALOT…
Dave said: Fri, 15 September 2006 at 14:39
Perfect! Used a business card, inserted it in the left side of my drive, pressed the trackpad button and the stuck DVD popped right out! Thanks!
Jen said: Thu, 28 September 2006 at 15:25
OMG! You saved my life,THANK U SOOOOOOOO MUCH! I didn’t look at it but the cd that got stuck was broken but put together with some glue! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT IT WORKED! THANK U SOOOOOO MUCH TRIED EVERYTHING NOTHING WORKED EXCEPT UR ADVICE! U R DEFINITELY A GENIUS!
paku said: Fri, 29 September 2006 at 08:24
Please add my name to the list of grateful responders. My stuck disk was among the first I put into (for Word program) a new MacBook Pro. ‘File’ didn’t light up ‘eject’ and none of the Mac advice worked. I’d tried rebooting with pad down, rebooting and leaving for 15 mins. etc., to no avail.
Your technique took four attempts with carboard to work, starting gingerly with a folded business card. What eventually worked was thicker cardboard, like yours, to the left and with some pressure, as you suggest. Even though the first trials failed, I was encouraged by at last hearing sounds of its trying to eject. Many thanks for your help. (I wonder if they’ll have a recall notice soon.)
anant said: Fri, 29 September 2006 at 11:54
Thanksss!! Worked like a charm with my student ID! I love you! :)
Shane said: Thu, 5 October 2006 at 22:23
YES>…….it worked…i had to fuck around with the business card u just gotta put ur ear to the disc drive and wait to it sounds like its stopped spinning and then wiggle the card a bit and u hear it pushing out and quickly pull the paper out,,,,FANTABULOUS!!!
Than said: Sat, 7 October 2006 at 14:52
Worked for me, but mine still doesn’t read any discs. ugh. At least I can get them out now.
Dennis & Amanda Oesch said: Mon, 9 October 2006 at 12:58
this totally saved me and my dad!!!
thanks!!!
ryan said: Fri, 13 October 2006 at 21:37
wow, so many stuck dvd’s! Mine was an improperly burned dvd that iDVD messed up and I was trying to see if it was readable. Apparently not!! thank goodness for your tip…
seems to me that a macbook pro should have an easier and less intrusive way to force out an unreadable/normal dvd that’s stuck in the beast. ah well.
thanks for the great post!
Matt said: Sun, 15 October 2006 at 03:22
Worked like a charm. Thanks!!
Another Matt said: Mon, 16 October 2006 at 18:44
You are brilliant. My MacBook had a failed burn and the disc wouldn’t eject, and everything word for word you mentioned occured upon reboot. This saved me a trip to the Apple Store.
Thanks!
juri said: Wed, 18 October 2006 at 07:31
WOW,
here’s another one:
thanks so very much man!
I had a video DVD, the system was starting
all right, the DVD was mounted on the desktop
and it would start the DVD player over and over
again. tried all the suggested stuff earlier
mentioned, but your trick was the only one that worked!
jon ruffell said: Wed, 18 October 2006 at 22:40
Absolutely amazing. I’ve searched all over Apple Discussions for a solution - never thought this would work and I wasn’t comfortable about sticking cardbaord in a disc drive, but this really works… thank you….
Now - if someone could tell me how to get passed the grey screen…
K said: Thu, 19 October 2006 at 17:15
had this problem too on a macbook; i tried during/after start up
alt
ejct
P-R-command-ctrl
mouse button
mouse+eject
F12
wait 30 min
& other things i can’t remember anymore to no avail…now this trick here got the CD out! Thank you so much! Such problems exist at least since the early titaniums…i wish Apple would start to recognize them
Justin said: Fri, 20 October 2006 at 08:16
Worked like a dream! Thanks!!!!
Asquared said: Fri, 20 October 2006 at 23:50
It worked it finaly worked. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
WhiteRice said: Sun, 22 October 2006 at 17:31
Ha my brand new 1 month old Mac Pro just did this to me, I tried every single trick I found on the web and then I found this website and I figure why not, put the battery case inside the superdrive and it worked! Great Tip! Thanks a whole bunch.
Hannah said: Sun, 22 October 2006 at 17:31
THANK YOU…it worked! And I was freaking out.
xed said: Mon, 23 October 2006 at 05:26
It seems I’m the only one who can’t do this trick… How do you do it people? :) I got a dvd stuck in my macbook.
I can’t make the cd stop (I’m not even sure if it’s spinning, the noise is very silent - like “tss…tss…tss”)
Not Working said: Mon, 23 October 2006 at 21:48
My Macbook refuses to give me back this DVD. I’ve tried everything mentioned online, but the DVD always ejects a little bit and then goes back in. There were even a couple times when I had a hold of it and it sucked it back out of the things I was gripping it with, back into the slot drive. So I’m wondering how far I’m supposed to have the cardboard battery case wedged in there. I’ve tried it a dozen different ways. Also, I’m not sure about the insides of a slot drive, but is it possible that it’s getting caught on something else (like the BOTTOM edge instead of the top edge)?
Thanks for any ideas.
5friendlyfrogs said: Wed, 25 October 2006 at 05:24
Top Tip!
Was getting on fine with my dual boot 10.4.8/WinXP macbook when I thought what I was really missing was a dual boot WinXP/Linux on the PC. Downloaded the ISOs of SUSE Linux 10.1 on the macbook and was in the process of buring them to CD when I thought I was burning a duplicate, so stopped the burn.
OMFG!
CD was inaccessable in OS X and I couldn’t eject it!!! Restart brought nothing but CD activity and SFA else. Leaving the macbook for 10-15 mins brought the OS(s) up but the CD was still inaccessable and unejectable (sure that’s not a word, but if this keech keeps up with the macbooks it may enter the language in a few years).
So, armed with a couple of glasses of good red wine and a business card (not to mention the large pair of nappies) I set to.
IT WORKED, IT EFFIN (a wee town in Fife not a sweary word, honest :)) WORKED!
Cheers Man
drew said: Fri, 27 October 2006 at 12:37
This did the trick… !!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Not Working said: Fri, 27 October 2006 at 16:13
Dear Friends,
My Macbook Pro is now free of its unwanted guest (the DVD). I had to bring it to a service center, and they had to extract it for me. I so wish I could tell you how they did it, but they wouldn’t let me watch as they worked on it in the back. I don’t think they opened it up.
One bit of info to report as to why the business card/battery packaging trick didn’t work for me is this: The DVD, once removed, was warped in a way that made it slightly convex as it lied flat on a table. This slight dome shape was the main issue. I had even gripped the DVD with a small tool, hit eject, and pulled. But the drive was fast at taking the DVD back, and the disk would always get pulled from my light grip.
As to how the DVD became warped, I have one or two plausible explanations. For one, the DVD was about 2/3 the thickness of a standard DVD. Here in China, you get all shapes and sizes. So the DVD was potentially fine when I inserted it, but after heating up inside the oven that is my notebook computer, it warped. I think it may have already been warped because I tried ejecting in within the first 10 minutes of use and it wouldn’t come out.
By the way, the disk still played to perfection right up until it was removed.
(That’s a long post, but I was hoping my experience might help some other poor fellow who doesn’t know why his computer wants to eat his DVD. Too often we read these sites and never contribute.)
the blokcheater said: Mon, 30 October 2006 at 05:05
I had a failed burn just before a SMC firmware update. I didn’t think much of the failed burn (my first. and I canceled it manually) so when I hit Restart on the SMC firmware my next thing wasa a stuck grey screen!
In trying to eject the disc to run Firmware restore CD, I found this. It worked like a charm!!! weeeeeeeeeeee!
the blokcheater said: Mon, 30 October 2006 at 05:06
ps I used a folded pack of matches
Chris said: Tue, 31 October 2006 at 14:39
Just had this same thing happen to my Macbook. Thank God I have an old iMac to look this stuff up because my laptop almost became the Worlds most expensive Frisbee. You sir… si God!
Alberto López said: Tue, 31 October 2006 at 15:13
I never thought it would work… I loved it…
Andreas Wacker said: Tue, 31 October 2006 at 19:51
wanted to start ripping my CDs. #3 being a perfectly normal audio CD got stuck.
business card did not the trick. When the Macbook Pro (W8618) with MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 wanted to eject I smacked the laptop on it’s back a bit while holding the it upside and it spit the disc out.
Arthur Augusto said: Wed, 1 November 2006 at 09:33
Perfect way !! I used a credt card as you told … Realy perfect Tip !!!!!!
Thanks, my macbook pro works again.
Brazil - Sao Paulo
Ben said: Wed, 1 November 2006 at 16:18
OMG I LOVE YOU! IT WORKED XOXOXO
Will you marry me???
Ivor said: Thu, 2 November 2006 at 10:20
I tried your tip on Mac Mini and it worked !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I already pictured myself running to Apple and being without my Mac for a week or so uffffff……. am I glad that didn’t happen.
Thank you thank you thank you
beosro said: Tue, 7 November 2006 at 08:58
One of the usefull “hardware” tricks. I did it with my credit card! My problem was a Firmware Restore CD stucked in the iMac Intel drive. But the trick did work only after unmounting the memories (!?).
By the way, my screen is blank for ever, the Restore CD did not work. Any ideas …?
Darren said: Thu, 9 November 2006 at 19:12
it’s great that we all got our discs out but what the hell is going on? the guy at the mac store told me that some discs are too think for the new drives. fantastic, how the hell am i supposed to tell the different between a thick and a thin disc. they all look thin to me.
beosro said: Fri, 10 November 2006 at 04:33
blokcheater,
How did you restore the Firmware? I can’t do it with the CD from the Apple site.
Juan said: Fri, 10 November 2006 at 09:29
Help! The trick is not working for me. DVD still stuck there! when I stick the card in, it stops the DVD, the drive makes the motion to spit out the DVD, but it doesn’t come out. Questions: Should I take the card out as it’s making that noise? Also, as I stick the card in, is the DVD under or over the card? I need to know that so I know where to push the card. I tried to open the Mac itself, but that didn’t work either.
Please, help?
Suze said: Sun, 12 November 2006 at 08:16
ANY KIND AND CARING PEOPLE OUT THERE? Have a disc stuck in my Powerbook G4 and though have tried rebooting, the disc doesn’t show on my desktop, and I can’t seem to get the driver to do anything at all. Of course it’s happened when I’m in the middle of a deadline and am freaking out which doesn’t help. If someone out there can, may a thousand nubile nympths kiss your feet until their lips are calussed.
beosro said: Sun, 12 November 2006 at 17:26
It didn’t work for me iether for the first (10) time(s). So I take control from Apple’s “CD controling software :-)” taking out the memories sticks and powering up without them. So, there was no “inteligent” control above the DVD. Then I stick the credit card in and gentle pressed the DVD spinning in the drive. It works like a charm. And it still works now because I have to take every CD out before another try to restore my firmware.
Anybody knows how can I do that (Firm restore)? Is there a magic CD another from Apple’s website. Which does not work. For me definitely.
Do I have to take out the the hard drive?
Suze said: Sun, 12 November 2006 at 17:50
beosro, ABSOLUTELY appreciate your comments - I just don’t understand them! (Will still send the nymphs though.) The drive won’t spin on reboot either; I can’t get it to do ANYTHING - though it did the first 2 times before I did anything but panic. Certainly I can’t even locate the disk - doesn’t show up on the desktop, and can’t do a find.
Am going mental. Have spent a bazillion hours on it so far, and nothing has changed except my blood pressure!
Mike said: Sun, 12 November 2006 at 19:37
Suze, have you tried the good old method of holding down the trackpad/left-mouse key while booting up the computer ? BTW, check your email (yahoo).
Suze said: Sun, 12 November 2006 at 20:13
Thanks Mike - I have, but it won’t boot with the trackpad held down…confused about the email comment!
cgProf said: Tue, 14 November 2006 at 11:47
Oh my God you just saved my life! I have to present with my MacBook Pro all day tomorrow to a bunch of high schoolers. The card trick worked after me just about throwing myself through a window. Many, many thanks!
Joe said: Wed, 15 November 2006 at 00:38
Dude you’re awesome! I have an Intel iMac 20″. I used a credit card, pushed against the edge of the CD in the drive so it was unable to spin. I powered it on while holding down the mouse button. The trick is you have to wait a good 20-40 seconds while holding the mouse button and holding the CD still. Like you said, the computer made 3 distinct attempts to read the disc and immediately following the third attempt it made it’s familiar “about to eject” noise so I backed away from the computer and the disc came out. I’m so glad I don’t have to check it in for repair. I just hope that all the power cycles I put it through while trying to troubleshoot this problem didn’t cause any damage.
Steve said: Wed, 15 November 2006 at 06:25
Thanks! Tried a business card first - that didn’t work - then I used the cardboard from the bottom of a note-pad (About the thickness of 3 biz cards). Jammed it wayyy in on the left side, wiggled it just a smidge, fired up the mac with the trackpad held down…waited… heard that blessed sound, and out came the CD (BTW - it was Ben Folds - who almost lost a fan!)
How bizarre that the MacBook Pro doesn’t have a simple built-in way of ejecting a stuck disc. I miss the old paper-clip trick.
Thanks again!
Suze said: Wed, 15 November 2006 at 10:46
Hm. The problem I’m having with mine is that it’s not even spinning - it only did it once (when the dvd first went in) and since then - nada!
Any other IT angels out there?
Jared said: Sat, 18 November 2006 at 14:01
HELP! I JUST PURCHASED THIS PIECE OF CRAP. I PUT MY FIRST CD IN. IT POWERED UP, AND THE PROGRAM DID SHOW UP. THEN I TRIED TO EJECT IT, AND IT DID NOTHING. I TRIED ALL OF THAT CRAP THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO EJECT THE DISC, AND NOTHING! I PUT THE BUSINESS CARD INSIDE, AND NOTHING!!!
PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT a.l.e.x25@hotmail.com BEFORE I EXPLODE!
Jordan and Sheila said: Tue, 21 November 2006 at 05:58
My wife told me we should write and say that you are a “genius” but it seems like we would have to get in line… I went through the exact same plight you described word-for-word, except our computer was the result of our 1 year-olds scratched Baby Einstein DVD being inserted. Nice. The only twist on your solution was that I had no battery pack and opted for my Barlaycard instead. First time I didn’t engage the disc correctly. Second time I did - and BINGO! You ARE a genius. Cheers from London
ddanger said: Fri, 24 November 2006 at 21:29
thanks for posting this.
my dvd just wouldnt pop out, a thick magazine cover over the dvd and it decided to eject. thanks.
this is the second mac book i am on, as the first one had a faulty dvd drive that mashed up my macromedia and office dvds :(
so thank god i didn’t have to go back to the store… just out of interest, when do these people do a product recall???
joop said: Sat, 25 November 2006 at 11:19
thanks! saved me a trip to the apple store….yay!
Sezook said: Sat, 25 November 2006 at 19:47
I had a warped DVD that wasn’t recognised and refused to come out. I used your trick with a cut down CD-ROM cardboard sleeve on my 13″ Macbook. Worked like a charm. You’re a life saver. Thanks.
Mork said: Fri, 1 December 2006 at 07:36
I’ve got a Macbook whose hard drive or logic board has just fried itself (these things run WAY too hot). I couldn’t get a CD out of the drive no matter what I tried, but your trick (business card) worked the first time.
Good job and thanks!
josh said: Fri, 1 December 2006 at 13:23
i was in a desperate situation and i found a site linking me to your site and it saved my life. all i can say is that if i had a paypal account, you’d be getting money in the bank right now.
Taylor said: Thu, 7 December 2006 at 13:29
The exzact same thing happened to me! i put a dvd in and it wouldnt come out I was scared out of my mind then i found your response…I got up to get cardboard and like a miracle It popped out right as i was coming back with the cardboard…wierd!
Pär said: Fri, 8 December 2006 at 03:18
I have got the CD/DVD stuck sometimes in my Macbook Pro but I have booted up in Open firmware on the mac by holding down:
cmd-opt-O-F
Then I get to the prompt were I write eject cd and press enter … WORKS EVERYTIME you don’t have to put something into the drive…
/Pär
Archfire9 said: Fri, 15 December 2006 at 09:11
I Seemed to have the same problem a little while ago with my macbook. I put in a DVD and it stuck in the Dvd drive, But my case was a little different. Instead of having problems with the drive, my hard drive pulled a Funk on me and lost my system files. Seemed as if my drive was doing the exact same thing that yours was. My solution was a little different though. I reset the PRAM, took out my battery, held the power button down for a few seconds and left the computer(with no Power source attached) for at least 2 hours. Then put the battery in and turned on the computer. After the computer pulled an amazing Jesus on me, it started up but during the time it would just freeze for a few seconds and then go again. Well I ejected the Disk and shut down my computer. Chucked in the OSX install disk went to Disk utility and fixed the drive. Beats sending my computer into apple and losing my DVD. This has only been an extreme case though. If you have troubles like he did take out your battery and leave it for a while it seems to forget most of your problems…. I hope some of this made sense…….
cheers
Suze said: Fri, 15 December 2006 at 23:18
Ah. As an update to my November 15 note - I ended up unscrewing the drive and found that the top of it was a little squished (from leaning a little too heavily near the pad?) so it was gently bent back to the way it shoulda been, and so far (fingers crossed!) it’s workin’ foiyne again….
James said: Sat, 16 December 2006 at 04:12
Thanks - worked after I trioed the mopve the card to the side technique - try both sides and persevere.
James
Wil said: Sat, 16 December 2006 at 12:28
Thanks for the post I’m getting ready to try and eject my disc stuck in the drive. Has anyone found a fix for this problem? I just don’t want to have my computer distroying my discs and having to stick stuff in there all the time…..Anyone???
CHEVAR said: Sun, 17 December 2006 at 07:38
THIS METHOD IS THE BOSS…… IT ACTUALLY WORKED. A CD WAS STUCK IN MY DRIVE. I TRIED EVERYTHING UNTIL A FRIEND OF MINE SHOWED ME THE SITE WITH THIS METHOD. I TRIED IT AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED, EVEN NOW I CANT BELIEVE IT. :)
Marcus said: Mon, 18 December 2006 at 21:17
You saved the day! Thanks, man!
Henke said: Tue, 19 December 2006 at 17:24
You´re the man! Thanks!
Stefan said: Wed, 27 December 2006 at 06:27
Excellent solution! Will remember for ever.
Wesley said: Tue, 2 January 2007 at 14:12
God bless you and all of your offspring. This same thing happened to me and I was flipping out b/c I have a 30-page paper in the computer that I needed to submit asap, but your method worked on the first try.
Anna said: Thu, 4 January 2007 at 06:56
God Bless you! This trick worked a wonder on my sister’s MacBook… she called me panicking about having inserted one of those small dvds in her laptop and it not coming out (D’oh!). It was obviously stuck! After scolding her for inserting a small dvd in a MacBook in the first place, I walked her through your advice over the phone. Lo and behold, it worked! Even on one of the small ones! Yipee!!!
You’ve made our day! Thanks again!
Mokarider said: Thu, 4 January 2007 at 10:28
Just another thanks !
I flipped my Mac twenty times to eject the DVD with a card inside, but it wouldn’t work.
The LEFT side did it.
sarita said: Mon, 8 January 2007 at 07:44
You saved my life! Got a cd stuck in the drive, apple says “bring to us, give us money, we’ll fix it”… I used a business card, it worked perfectly! HVALA !!!!! a million thanks!
Rita said: Tue, 9 January 2007 at 10:26
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
jamie said: Wed, 10 January 2007 at 09:50
THANK You so much!!! It worked perfectly! Genius idea.
avi sucks said: Tue, 16 January 2007 at 08:32
youre a freaking genius..i love u
sun22flower said: Sun, 21 January 2007 at 23:49
Wow. That saved me from going to the Apple store, and I have a huge deadline by Tuesday - no time to waste! Thanks SO MUCH for the great advice. I had tried so many things already, but had been hesitant to stick anything in the CD drive… but the battery pack cardboard worked wonders!!!!! Thank you.
Steve Bell said: Sun, 28 January 2007 at 22:13
Had the same problem and after about 15 attempts it worked with my EU-drivers license combined with my mensa-card. But now my MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857 makes strange noises. I’ll go to the apple store tomorrow.
That’s such a bad product policy, if everybody seems to have this problem, they should make a recall. But I know one thing for sure: they won’t. Now, I was very happy with my first apple laptop since august 06, but since this is about the seventh cd/dvd witch whas stuck I’m starting to feel a little disappointed slowly. They always come out (sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes after 3 days. But hey, I need a product which is more reliable than that.
I know that it’s annoying and takes up time, but maybe we all should confront the next apple store with this and tell them to exchange the drive or something. I’ll post, what came out of my store visit, that I’ll do tomorrow.
Greetings from Mannheim, germany
Chris said: Mon, 29 January 2007 at 10:03
I had a music cd stuck in my mac mini and I used your sugestion but I ended up using dollar bills to keep it from spinning up. I had to use a total of 12 one dollar bills to prevent it from spinning up.
The computer would boot into OSX but then would just say that I need to restart and I wasn’t able to do anything.
So to solve the problem, I stuck my $12 into the Super Drive and once OSX loaded, I was able to just eject the cd by dragging it over to the trash can.
Thanks!
Andy said: Tue, 6 February 2007 at 05:07
thanks for the great tip…neone know why this happend
Julie said: Fri, 9 February 2007 at 09:55
I sent my Macbook to repair service to have heatsink, keyboard (a keystroke popped out) and the superdrive, that was constantly choking DVDs and guess what? Even with the replacement, the superdrive still keep choking my DVDs! I tried with a few DVD-R discs, a Region 4 DVD (I live in South America), a Region 2 DVD and the region 2 played fine but it wouldn’t eject not even the other dvds (except for 1 had a lot of files).
Does Apple know about the defective Superdrive units?
Anyway, this tip worked great, thanks for the tip.
jimbrow` said: Fri, 9 February 2007 at 20:01
Yet another satisfied customer. Great trick my man. My girlfriend was so impressed…especially since she was the one that got the DVD stuck. Cheers up!
hani said: Thu, 15 February 2007 at 05:51
i’ve tried this trick with cardboard, credit cards, multiple credit cards and nothing has happened! what am i doing wrong? i tried jamming it into the left side of the slot as well. i’ve rebooted and rebooted. pressed down the keypad. tried absolutely everything to no avail. any suggestions? sometimes it will make really strange hissing sort of noises (not the traditional dut-du-dut-du noise of a struggling macbook trying to eject). this sucks. what do i do?
hani said: Thu, 15 February 2007 at 05:55
thank god! right after i posted that comment, it finally came out. used my bevmo! card. nice!
Hans Dietrich said: Fri, 16 February 2007 at 00:36
Hi Guys,
this has happened to me twice. Think I would learn. Same application, different CD.
Tried everything. First time was in for three weeks and by chance connected as external drive on another MAC and out it came. This time ,no such luck. Two months. I tried everything mentioned here, no go. Then read, somebody used there EU driver’s licence. Tried mine, Massachusetts, and lo and behold, out it came. Cd is very scratched from all the attempts. Will I trust to put in another CD ????
Matt said: Fri, 16 February 2007 at 11:07
Awesome fix. It also works with a Blockbuster Movie Membership Card ;) It will work when the EFI update has been interrupted and you can’t put the Apple restore CD in the drive because there is already a disk in the drive.
Saved my bacon!
Chris said: Fri, 16 February 2007 at 21:18
I had the same problem and found the pressing and holding the eject button (top right) ejected the disk when dragging the disk to the trash / booting up with the trackpad button held down didn’t manage to eject the disk.
sonny said: Sat, 17 February 2007 at 02:56
Thanks! This valuable idea unbelievable. I got problem ejecting dvd via iMac 20″. But now its done…
Gideon said: Mon, 19 February 2007 at 07:01
Let me join the ecstatic chorus. Your fix saved me a trip to the Apple store. The key, as you said, was twisting the card to stop the disk from spinning — and out came the disk! Thanks.
Blue said: Tue, 20 February 2007 at 08:14
I had a couple of DVDs stuck. Problem for me appears to be with slightly dished discs from nasty DVD cases that put dishing pressure on the discs. Couldn’t get the trick to work - had to disassemble the MacBook Pro twice. So beware discs that aren’t flat.
claire said: Fri, 23 February 2007 at 10:42
OH MY GOSH! you are a life saver! i swear, i was like, you are the last person i’m gonna listen to and try whatever you did…but honestly…I LOVE YOU! YOU SAVED MY LIFE TIME OF WORK!
Gummig said: Mon, 26 February 2007 at 03:41
You made my day - was just short of a nervous breakdown when I found your site - and I even had a battery pack cardboard which worked just as you described. Thanks, man!!!!
Pauline said: Fri, 2 March 2007 at 06:03
thk you so much. it actually works !!!
i seriously was going to cry when it just kept spinning and not coming out
thank you again
ben said: Fri, 2 March 2007 at 13:14
OH MY GOD !!!! You actually saved me…. IM NOT KIDDIN your a freakin genius… haha i was soo scared cuz tommorow i have to drive 12 hours with my friends and just before i read this i thought we were not gonna watch any movies OMG YOUR MY HERO!!! hahah
JACQUES said: Fri, 2 March 2007 at 16:09
Coolness. I was going to smash my macbook on the so called apple idiots earlier on. I went down to starbucks and got online. What an easy solution. Thanks.
[Edited by administrator: language]
Mike said: Mon, 5 March 2007 at 17:54
Thanks! Worked great, I don’t see anything wrong with the disc and this has happened once before with a different disc. Maybe there’s a problem with the design….
Arthur Augusto said: Fri, 16 March 2007 at 00:56
Another HINT !!! I had post here some time ago, but My DVD stuck again, I FIND NEW WAY TO REMOVE DVD. Method above work for me one time, but now i try another one. See steps:
1) Remove your battery
2)Hold down botton to try force eject
3) Place any card to hold and after three times, dvd try eject, but if not dvd pull out
4) When dvd try read 3 times, will try force eject, take off energy power cord at eject and BEFORE DVD is loaded again. You need take off energy at a moment dvd try eject, to set dvd free to drag with any hard paper, card ou battery pack. I did it and remove jusk shake macbook pro up and down.
Can u underestand my hint ?
Good luck
al said: Mon, 19 March 2007 at 05:51
thanks dude you are my personal hero!
Ben said: Mon, 19 March 2007 at 05:55
Nice, worked! Thanks so much.
Corey said: Sat, 24 March 2007 at 06:17
I was freaking out, tried your solution - it worked perfectly!!!!!!!!!!!
Cindy said: Mon, 26 March 2007 at 01:02
I stupidly put a mini-dvd in and had a terrible feeling just as I did it. Then after looking at another discussion, I put in another DVD to try to get it out and they both got stuck! I tried the business card, thicker cardboard and credit card about 20 times, decided to try again the next day. After shaking my laptop, trying the credit card, other cardboard and thinking of making a trip to the Genius bar, I tried again without using cardboard or anything and they both came out! Don’t give up, I was beginning to think I was going to burn out my laptop.
DJ said: Mon, 2 April 2007 at 16:11
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
You will have great karma for many, many lives!
Ariel said: Tue, 3 April 2007 at 13:52
I got an 80 mm disc stuck in there, and my MBP is only 2 days old!!! I was so pissed and frustrated that I had to call Apple for service after 2 days. But after your hint, I found an old samsonite info booklet with thick paper. After shaking it around in there a few times and pulling it in and out, it worked great! You’re the man!
Jesse said: Sun, 8 April 2007 at 15:16
any suggestions if the business card i used to try and get it out ripped….? now, not only is there a stuck dvd, but half of a business card stuck in my mom’s macbook. any suggestions before i have to wake her up and tell her?
Reüel said: Fri, 13 April 2007 at 21:53
Wow! Finally after about 2 and a half hours my cd is out he drive thanks to this tip. Thank You!
Stephen Yeates said: Tue, 17 April 2007 at 03:12
What a genius solution! After an hour of endless spinning up and down…up and down.. I went online and found your tip. I took out the battery to power down my Macbook sometimes not so Pro, and used a thin plastic business card inserted as you said above the disc. Twisting slightly , hit the “On” button and within a few seconds…Voila!, out popped the disc. Thankyou a thousand times. The drive is completely O.K. and the world is a shiny place once again!
Thanks!
Reed said: Tue, 24 April 2007 at 16:58
Thank you so much, I was thinking (and somewhat attempting though lazily) to do this with a credit card. the solution is so simple and reading all the success stories made me go for it, you really saved me from taking it apart (again!, had just fixed the video cable on my own)
This is now confirmed to work on a Titanium PowerBook G4 15″ (DVI)
Brooke said: Thu, 26 April 2007 at 01:35
Woo Hoo! This totally worked! You saved us, I was not looking forward to telling the boss that I jammed up his new “baby”. Big Thank yous!
Bob said: Thu, 26 April 2007 at 15:55
OK,
I love the internet. It’s such a wonderful place to share problems, and more importantly, solutions. Thanks, the card worked like a champ. The disk is out of my wife’s Black MacBook and now I can go to bed. Bless you for posting this. Nothing else worked.
Mitchell said: Fri, 4 May 2007 at 15:39
Wow! Worked like a charm! You’re the best!
My boss inserted the actual CD (photos for our latest ad campaign) into my computer and FREAKED out when it wouldnt load and got even more upset when it wouldnt eject (10 minutes before a presentation with a client)! I have the company credit card to get the computer fixed… Won’t they be interested to know that the AMEX came in handy without having to charge anything! Thanks again!
Magnolia said: Sun, 6 May 2007 at 10:44
Thanks, this really helped me! Worked like a charm! My only problem is, now my computer isn’t reading ANY disk I put in. I’ve only tried it with DVDs so far but that’s really all I care about. It goes in, spins around for a while, and never shows up on the desktop. When I try to load up the dvd player, it says there’s no disk inserted.
Is my disk drive broken? Is there something I can doto fix it? Thanks for your time.
Joe said: Fri, 1 June 2007 at 15:42
That did the trick.
It took my G4 iBook a couple of restart attempts after finally getting the disc out to actually give me a boot tone.
none said: Sat, 2 June 2007 at 18:21
what do you guys mean by saying the “left” of the optical drive?
Beverly said: Sun, 3 June 2007 at 09:59
The initial post prompted me to use a substitute for the battery pack cardboard. I used a firm playing card, placing it above the CD; twisting it slightly with the computer running. I pressed on the eject key once, then removed the card; pressing once again on the eject button. The CD ejected without any problem, much to my relief!
ollie said: Mon, 4 June 2007 at 06:27
thank you soooo much!!
John said: Thu, 7 June 2007 at 21:40
Will this work for a mini-DVD stuck in the MacBook Pro? I have someone who wants me to help them get a stuck mini-DVD out. If not, how hard is it, what do you have to do, to remove the CD drive from the MacBook Pro. I tried to find a service guide online and couldn’t. Most regular notebook you just have to remove 1 screw, then you can pull the drive out. Please email me at connajj@bellsouth.net
Teresa said: Fri, 8 June 2007 at 16:01
Big thanks from Shangahi! You’ve just saved my trip. And I don’t mean just a trip to the Apple Store here!
John Emerson said: Sat, 9 June 2007 at 10:30
I can’t belive the pathetic quality this brand new MacBook (2 days old!!!) have. The dvd drive just died, no way to ejecting a stuck dvd, tried everytrick, no go!!!
Tigre said: Tue, 12 June 2007 at 02:35
You Rock!! I though it was all over when my mac had a stuck cd. in the drive…
got a business card folded twice slide in, make sure the business card holds the cd so it wont spin turn it on, waited about 5-7 seconds then nothing happen then pull my business card out thinking it was no good then walla!!! my cd came out and my macbook booted up…
pratikspace said: Tue, 12 June 2007 at 16:26
wooooow, this is awesome. my dvd got stuck, i started ur article with 45 degree angle of my macbookpro, meanwhile i tried to put the dvd out couple of times by eject button, i tried cmd-opt-p-r options[i dont know wht that means but i tried that too as suggested], by the time i finish this article and reading comments, my mac automatically tried it and let my dvd out. plain perfect clean stupid dvd. thanks for info though, ll always remember. and definitely saved a trip to apple store.
Guy said: Wed, 13 June 2007 at 08:08
Fanatastic! Worked a treat. Thank you sooooooo much.
dangeroushoals said: Thu, 14 June 2007 at 03:06
Hey, I just had this exact problem on a brand new Macbook Pro out of the box. Just have to say that the post was brilliant an apropos.
My contribution for furture readers is that the trick also works with cardboard from a Microsoft Intellimouse. Now’d who would ever think they could ever play nice together??
-Jon
Gdyre said: Fri, 15 June 2007 at 13:37
Thanks much!
My daughter stuck a mini-cd in the drive and none of the options kicked it out.
Folded a paper postcard/signup sheet from a magazine in half, pushed it into the drive, moved it around a bit and voila, 30 seconds after reading your article the mini-cd popped out!
Been stuck in there for several weeks and just never got around to taking it to the Apple store.
Great fix!
Puspa Syafei said: Sat, 16 June 2007 at 10:19
Thanks lots bro….you save my works
Paul Butterworth said: Wed, 20 June 2007 at 02:29
Thank you thank you thank you!
This was driving me nuts, i was planning the long wait at the store!
thanks again
Paul
Jake said: Thu, 21 June 2007 at 03:51
legend mate thankyou was starting to get worried, found this and it worked first time!
Cade said: Thu, 21 June 2007 at 11:10
You’re a lifesaver. Thanks. Seems like this is a big problem with the new macbooks
Very Grateful said: Fri, 22 June 2007 at 23:44
Just like some of the folks before me, I tried all the official tricks in the book, but leave it to your unconventional tip to be the lifesaver. DVD ejected on first attempt. woohoo! Thanx a bunch!
joshua said: Wed, 27 June 2007 at 14:41
gotta hand it to you, your a household inventing genius
aldo said: Fri, 6 July 2007 at 16:00
Thank you. I had the same problem with the difference that the machine was booting but there wasn’t a way to remove the cd. A plastic card worked fine.
Ben said: Sat, 7 July 2007 at 13:38
I had my new macbook not 30 minutes from the courier. I started copying files to DVD from my PC to put on my macbook (email, bookmarks, mp3’s, videos etc).
After installing bootcamp and its drivers, I put in the disk labelled “windows stuff” - another burnt DVD-R. Windows wouldn’t recognise it, and wouldn’t eject it. So with a call to technical support after reaching the grey screen when rebooting, we couldn’t get the DVD-R to eject. I said to the guy “hang on let me try something”. I put my mastercard in on top of the disk and low and behold it came out, just like another slotload drive I have on a system here.
He laughed and said he’d advise of that trick in future should he come across the same problem, and cannot get the customers drive to eject.
Funny thing was, I thought it was caused by the 10.4.10 update I had done prior to finishing off the bootcamp install.
dre said: Tue, 17 July 2007 at 08:28
Thank the freaking lord!
I was soo fusterated i took out all the screws from th ebottom in attemps to open the disk holder so i can rip that CD out from there.
I read this and seriously first i tried a credit card, drivers license, macys gift card, and finally with the gift card stopping the CD and pressing eject button while the comp was restarting it popped out.
thanks so damn much. it took awhile for me but you just gotta fidgit and dotn forget to hold down the eject button while its restarting and to make sure the card keeps that damn cd still. best of luck too all you guys
\
chen said: Wed, 18 July 2007 at 03:01
save my life , thansk, Genius
Igor said: Thu, 19 July 2007 at 14:39
Man, you saved my night! Thank you!!!! Why on earth ejecting a disk is a problem?!!!
I can’t get it…
Denis said: Thu, 19 July 2007 at 16:48
Had a CD stuck in my macbook pro super drive and the computer was trying to spit it out about every 20 secs. Made an awful noise. Tried the card but no go. Read on the site about tipping the computer and tapping the underside of the drive when it was trying to spit out the disc and thank goodness it popped out with that little frustration releasing tap. Thanks Guys!
Dan said: Fri, 27 July 2007 at 20:26
Looks like a lot of us have had this problem. You are a genius and thank you for the solution.
myles said: Fri, 3 August 2007 at 01:15
THANK YOU SO MUCH. THE CARDBOARD WORKED AND I SAVED SO MUCH MONEY, TIME, STRESS AND I DONT HAVE TO TELL MY BOSS I JUST RUINED HER COMPUTER. >>> IT WORKS.
seba said: Sun, 5 August 2007 at 06:16
had the same problem with my macbook pro core duo. grey screen + dvd won’t eject while making noises.
i followed chris’ advice and waited 5-10 minutes without interfering and then the mac booted by itself !!
the dvd was still stuck but i managed to eject it through the terminal by typing “drutil tray eject” (it was slow to react but ejected it after 2-5 minutes).
i suspect that my problem was related to Toast Titanium. the dvd that got stuck was made with Toast and when trying to eject it, it automatically opened Toast. weird…
not my idea of spending 3-4 hours on a saterday night - but thanks a million for this site + the advice from everyone else!
PhilG said: Wed, 8 August 2007 at 20:53
ooh you beauty.
I used my business card. First time the bloody things have come in useful
Rolle said: Thu, 9 August 2007 at 22:13
This is great - the third time this happened I tryed using a creditcard and got the DVD out. The other times I had this anoynig incident I held the comp upsidedown and tapped on while ejecting - this time however, after 3 hrs of trying different ways your tip solved the problem - thanks a looooooot…
It seems my MacBook Pro don´t like thicker DVD´s since thats when I get the problem, perhaps something to consider - One of my favourite movies “Fight Club” is no a no-go on my MBP - sad but true - stucks every time!
Is there a special trick to boot in Open Firmware btw? I tried alt-command-o-f but it just boots as usual !
Shizzle Dizzle said: Sun, 12 August 2007 at 00:38
You bailed me out man thanks alot!!!!
Paco said: Wed, 15 August 2007 at 02:29
Worked like butter… I was about to destroy this fn mac… I had just replaced the HD and added 1 GB of memory and now this….
Wow… Thanks again man, I’LL BE SURE TO CLICK ON A COUPLE OF YOUR GOOGLE ADS.
Take care and thanks for posting your “Mac Saving” tip.
Antonsnaps said: Wed, 15 August 2007 at 05:05
Wow, what a great trick! You’ve obviously helped a lot of people and we all appreciate it!
Roger said: Tue, 21 August 2007 at 01:44
I used a business card, this was the final resort that got my disk out. Great tip!
Some notes:
Insert the card before the computer boots up, if you insert the card when the disk is already spinning at thousands of rpm, it’ll just get shredded.
For all you attempting this, note it takes a while. Perhaps 30 seconds…
Be patient. Put your ear next to the drive and you’ll hear the sounds more clearly. The 3rd sound is the cue to remove the card as the disk will be ejected very shortly.
your mom said: Fri, 24 August 2007 at 01:29
I used tweezers… cos there was a small part of the CD protruding out…
Joanna said: Sat, 25 August 2007 at 12:07
BLESS YOU! I put a mini-CD in the drive to try to upload some picture software, and it was stuck. I know nothing about computers and was freaking out. The cardboard worked on the first try!!
James said: Wed, 29 August 2007 at 11:29
You’re a star, thanks!
Kelley said: Tue, 11 September 2007 at 01:11
You are a genius! I had the same problem with a DVD-R and you saved me a trip to the Apple store! Thanks a ton!
Asfandyar said: Tue, 11 September 2007 at 09:42
ur tip is the best,
nothing else works, this is the only way to get a stuck cd out.
thnx buddy
Lauri said: Wed, 12 September 2007 at 02:44
Outstanding!
Great tip, saved me from a trip to the mac store.
Gregory said: Thu, 13 September 2007 at 15:50
My old powerbook has the same RECURRING problem. I’ve already replaced the drive once but it just seems to whimsically see/read my DVD drive and eject or not eject depending on it’s mood. Ugghhh. Thanks for the tip it worked for me too but I really want to know why this keeps happening! Any thoughts?
Muffy said: Tue, 18 September 2007 at 08:07
AMAZING! I am on hold with APPLE support and tried this with a greeting card.
GENIUS! Thanks
James said: Tue, 18 September 2007 at 08:23
*** If you are in a situation where your MacBook will not boot and you do not want to stick anything in the drive.. Pop out the battery and back in again. Switch on and it will boot to OS X as normal. Your DVD will keep spinning for about 15 minutes but will eventually pop out on its own. My windows formatted DVD that OSX couldnt read after a reboot from vista popped out while reading this blog!!! Patience is they key!!
Kristofer said: Thu, 20 September 2007 at 18:54
Another thanks!
DVD got stucked on my new MacBook Pro, a piece from the xp-box was all i needed. Thanks Microsoft! haha ;)
sean said: Fri, 28 September 2007 at 00:58
i love you
Last time the dvd was stuck there for two weeks!!!
Al said: Thu, 4 October 2007 at 02:47
I stuck a mini photo dvd that came with a HP ink cartridge and it wouldn’t even startup. I knew that I was in trouble! After putting “macpro dvd is stuck” in google’s search bar I found your site. I place the small advertisement that came with the dvd into the slot and “fiddled” around for a few seconds and WALA!, a portion of the mini dvd came out and I was able to grab a corner and pull it out.
ATTENTION: ALL MAC USERS!! DO NOT PUT MINI DVDS INTO YOUR DVD DRIVE!
Robbie Balderstone said: Sat, 6 October 2007 at 07:38
oh the worry… oh the wishing that i had bought applecare…. oh the relief!
David (aka Chillout) said: Sat, 6 October 2007 at 08:03
I had the same problem and so i gooled the problem and i cam to your page. I gotta say you’re smart to do that, but i got mine to work differently… i tilted it backwards… and held it there for about ten seconds… and hahaha the apple finally appeared!!!
PEACE!!!
Anna said: Sat, 6 October 2007 at 15:10
Sweet! Genius is an understatment.
Thank YOU!
Ian Shepherd said: Sun, 7 October 2007 at 07:20
Thanks, worked perfectly ! First time I didn’t wait long enough, but it worked great on the second attempt - I would never have thought of this. Kudos !
( You should set it up so we can Digg this… )
Daniel Young said: Thu, 18 October 2007 at 11:42
Man, i was starting to worry there. Put a DVD+RW into my Macbook’s drive…and it just span, wouldn’t eject etc.
Life saver!
Thank you!
Erin Greenwell said: Sat, 20 October 2007 at 09:01
You saved my life. Found this within seconds on a google search, tried it and worked immediately. Thank you for posting.
Erin
Kim said: Sun, 21 October 2007 at 22:59
My macBook Pro had a similar problem. When I tried to eject the DVD it would clunk several times but never came out and then the disk would mount all over again.
I tried the cardboard - no luck. The advice about stopping the disk appeared to have no effect at all. Finally (before taking the laptop apart I tried a credit card. It didn’t work until this:
I put in the credit card in the centre of the slot until it hit the small bracket. I pushed down on the outside of the card to angle the card up over the top of the bracket then pushed the card in a very small amount so it was over the bracket but not as far as the disk. Then I applied pressure upwards on the outside of the card which caused downward pressure of the other end of the card on the bracket.
When I hit eject the bracket moves down and the disk goes over the top of the bracket and the card. Some small success - the disk very briefly pokes out of the slot before being whisked in again. After several tries I managed to grab the edge of the disk as it came out. A fight with the mechanism ensued with the mechanism winning until I grabbed a small pair of long-nosed pliers around disk and card and - finally - got it out!!! Whew!
Samantha said: Fri, 26 October 2007 at 09:40
I did the same with a small cd which was stuck, and now the player doesnt read any CD at all, any clue anyone? I m really shit at it, and I live in china now, which means nobody speakin english and no real apple store. (last time i broke my screen, they replaced it with the crapiest on earth) thanks
Andrew said: Sun, 28 October 2007 at 02:40
I can’t get the DVD OUT! I have tried all of the above. It is still trying to get out. I am concerned that my disk drive eject function is going to have a hernia from all its mechanical effort to remove the disk. Any ideas that don’t involve poking and prodding the drive?
washwords said: Wed, 31 October 2007 at 11:02
thank you thank you thank you. i tried your trick with a cd booklet instead of cardboard. out it came! whoo hoo! I’m concerned that this will keep happening and it’s frustrating you can’t take out the whole drive but ah well, thanks slivermac. i’m bookmarking you after a very happy one-click-google save! :)
screenmates said: Sat, 3 November 2007 at 14:35
Mine got stuck in MacBook, too. Tried rebooting a few times with the alt key down, mouse button down and it just gave me a gray screen with noise from the drive. While I was reading this article on my desktop PC, I left my laptop turned on. When I was done with this blog, I went back to my laptop to force it to spit the DVD out but presto, I found it has booted into my default bootcamp by then. I simply logged into XP, launched the explorer and ejected the DVD that my MacBook happily ate.
Thanks anyway
Marisa said: Wed, 7 November 2007 at 02:36
Just another big thank you from someone in exactly the same situation! I was on the verge of taking my Macbook to the repair shop and you saved me the trouble! It took me about fifteen minutes of shifting around with the back of an old cut up cereal box, but I got results! Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Brad Hunstable said: Wed, 7 November 2007 at 04:30
PURE GENIUS! It worked for me perfect.
On behalf of myself and Ustream.TV. THANKS!
Anonymous said: Sat, 10 November 2007 at 23:18
GENIUS! it worked ,thank you!
Clayton said: Tue, 13 November 2007 at 14:10
I used a biz card from the local Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy and it worked.
Thanks! I noticed that Mac Help was no help - it told me to insert a paperclip into an orifice that my robot doesn’t have.
DebinOZ said: Wed, 14 November 2007 at 12:41
Thanks so much! We had a DVD stuck in a Mac Mini with two external HDs stacked on top of the Mini. It’s my belief that the DVD reader got too hot (or at least the DVD itself got too hot). Anyway, your suggestion worked! It should be noted (for those folks this trick didn’t work for) that you have to be patient. I started the process with a biz card but it isn’t strong enough to hold the drive down. Went to my medical insurance card but was still having trouble. Basically, I (GENTLY!) slid the card back and forth, tipping it a little on the left side (the card) and pressing down. It took 3-4 times before I actually heard the blessed sound of a disk being ejected. WHEW! And I could care less if I damaged the DVD. It was cheaper than taking it in for repairs. Thanks again!
KYRA said: Wed, 14 November 2007 at 14:55
WOW!!!!! And the praise goes on and on! I have had a CD stuck in my Powerbook G4 for 2 days now!!! I kept at it…tried EVERYTHING! and eventually stumbled upon this.I used a piece of cardboard and just kept running it along the top…rebooted it,-basically did what was suggested.And it FINALLY EJECTED! So yes! This also worked for my powerbook g4 as well if anyone is wondering.WHEW!! Thanks again!! I (like many others) was ready to go to the mac store (i made my appt for this weekend) and now i don’t have to worry about it. THANK YOU THANK YOU
bustown said: Sat, 17 November 2007 at 20:08
thanks for the help…you saved me a trip to hear the so called “genius people” used my mutha ef-ing kroger plus card…..
Ron said: Sun, 25 November 2007 at 05:45
I have a mini dvd in the drive and I tried the method, now all I hear wehn trying to eject is an obnoxious and dangerlously sounding ticking sound as it tries to eject. I can no longer stick anything in the drive as the disk (I pressume) or some other mechanism is blocking the insertion. Any ideas?!
David said: Mon, 26 November 2007 at 03:00
If Mac is trying to eject, but the disc won’t pop out and just starts spinning up again, try tapping sharply on the wrist rest as the Mac tries to eject. I had almost given up, but this really worked.
Mary Gunderson said: Tue, 27 November 2007 at 06:23
Hooray for this site and for the last suggestion. Truly is a design flaw on my brand new 1 hour-old Macbook.
Matti said: Tue, 27 November 2007 at 09:33
Many thanks for the trick with credit card, booting the system and listening two strange sounds, removing the credit card during the third sound :)
It’s really working!
Christine said: Thu, 29 November 2007 at 11:59
Help… things are worse….
PowerBook G4:
Leopard DVD stuck in CD drive
Boot stuck on Grey Apple screen w spinning cursor
DVD was spinning… tried card trick… it stopped spinning but did not eject and won’t boot… :(
Christine said: Thu, 29 November 2007 at 12:15
Nevermind…. ran down the power and held down the track button on the reboot…. that ejected the DVD….
now… if I could just figure out how to install Leopard w/out a DVD drive!
Thank you
james keating said: Sun, 2 December 2007 at 01:56
you are an absolute genius! this solves the problem. thanks very much
Sameer said: Sun, 2 December 2007 at 07:23
I had stuck in a mini-dvd that came with my HP cartridges. I had tried tweezing it out but nothing worked. I then tried a business card after reading people’s experience here. It only worked when I tilted the laptop away from me before inserting the card (trying to put it below the DVD rather than above it), then I tilted it towards me and pulled it out. The mini-dvd popped out resting squarely on the business card.
Please do not insert the HP DVDs that come with the cartridge on a MacBook Pro.
Example said: Tue, 4 December 2007 at 17:22
this worked
Example said: Tue, 4 December 2007 at 17:23
jirkldjfghjksfrjkjkljrjkl
Cameron said: Tue, 4 December 2007 at 22:11
I am pleased to announce that the above method worked for me. I would like to add that you will need to insert the card at one end of the drive slot as the middle has a metal guard which rises when a disc is present. In my case the disk did manage to spin, although very slowly, after two or three attempts at spinning up the drive made its loud noise to signal it was ejecting the disc :)
david said: Thu, 6 December 2007 at 20:12
Thank you-there is a god after all-had a dodgy leopard startup disk and thought i had destroyed a brand new laptop!
MIke Z said: Fri, 14 December 2007 at 07:38
Awesome, you just saved my arse.
GamingFr3ak said: Fri, 14 December 2007 at 18:38
HELP HELP HELP! My cd got stuck in my MacBook Pro and I had to use trick to remove the Disk but now when disks are inserted to the MacBook Pro it makes a noise like the Disk inside is hitting on the wall or something, If I even touch the Laptop the noise becomes worse like grinding it to a DEAD stop, I can hear the CD slow down when I touch the side of the laptop and return to speed when I let go, Almost sounds like im hitting the Brakes… But Im not sure if there is any posible solution, CAN anyone HELP ME!? Plz post here I will Check back in a couple of days, THANKS EVERYONE!
jay woo said: Sat, 15 December 2007 at 13:51
I finally got my stuck dvd out by jamming in another dvd disc. I put it in almost all the way,Then I took out the extra disc and rebooted while holding down note pad key.Works every time but it still a really a pain in the ass. It should be covered by warranty!,,,,good luck!
GamingFr3ak said: Wed, 19 December 2007 at 16:52
HELP HELP HELP! My cd got stuck in my MacBook Pro and I had to use trick to remove the Disk but now when disks are inserted to the MacBook Pro it makes a noise like the Disk inside is hitting on the wall or something, If I even touch the Laptop the noise becomes worse like grinding it to a DEAD stop, I can hear the CD slow down when I touch the side of the laptop and return to speed when I let go, Almost sounds like im hitting the Brakes… But Im not sure if there is any posible solution, CAN anyone HELP ME!? Plz post here I will Check back in a couple of days, THANKS EVERYONE!
RC said: Fri, 21 December 2007 at 14:33
WOW! my son’s New Imac had the disk stuck and just making a chewing sound, tried everything and then saw this post. I used my business card and pop out it came. Great job, Thanks!
Jacky said: Sat, 22 December 2007 at 11:54
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I found this page, after having tried all the usual crap, and honestly didn’t think it would work. But, I was getting desperate, so I tried it, and IT WORKED! I was so happy, I’d been getting really worried. The laptop belongs to my school, and I’m not supposed to do non-school-related things on here, such as burning CDs. I inserted the CD, and it didn’t show up, even when I searched for it. I tried restarting the computer a few times, then looked up “CD stuck in laptop” on google. I tried a bunch of stuff, restarting while holding the mouse button, etc. Nothing. Then I tried it and it worked! My only question: Is it safe to insert the CD again? As far as I know, there was no reason for the problem. My laptop’s actually not a MacBook, but an iBook G4, and it’s about two years old, maybe a little less. Any thoughts?
wslwing@yahoo.com
awesome said: Tue, 25 December 2007 at 08:19
Worked perfectly. My disc was stuck in my MacBook after trying to restore my system using Time Machine. Thank you
Simon said: Thu, 27 December 2007 at 11:19
I’ve got the same problem, but as yet not managed to get the disk out. I went to the Apple Store and the j*rk off said they had NEVER had a reported problem of this nature (yeah sure) and they’d charge me to remove it (bought about 55 weeks ago).
My MacBookPro gets extemely hot, could the CD’s be warping slightly which means they won’t eject?
Phil Bowden said: Sun, 30 December 2007 at 05:13
My daughter thought she would have to send her laptop off to be fixed but I followed your instructions and out popped the cd. She sends you a kiss .
Thanks
Steven said: Tue, 1 January 2008 at 21:57
EXCELLENT!! This worked on my wifes ibook after she put a ’small’ dvd into the slot. You saved my life because she had asked me if the small dvd’s would work on her ibook - I said they should do - not knowing the drive on an ibook has a slot rather than a tray. Thanks Again - I went from dead man walking to hero in the time it took me to find your article and follow the instrictions - phew!!
Battistero said: Fri, 4 January 2008 at 03:06
It works!!!
A DVD blocked my MacBook and your trick resolved my problem!
THANKS!!!
RoGo said: Sat, 5 January 2008 at 00:40
I too had a mini dvd stuck in my Macbook Pro. I inserted a Post-it note sticky side down and applied a little pressure on the Macbook itself over the disk compartment. The Post-it note seemed to adhere to the disk and I was able to slowly pull it out with no damage.
Hope this helps someone.
so and jo said: Sun, 6 January 2008 at 01:06
Dude, your trick even worked in France!!!! Merci beaucoup!
Just one variation: instead of using cardboard (which didn’t work the first time), we used a hairpin. I know, that’s dangerous and all, but it worked so I guess you can add that to the list.
Thanks again man. You avoided a potential international disaster…
Bisous (that’s “kisses”)
Karen said: Mon, 7 January 2008 at 05:36
More bisous from the UK. Business card did the trick. Brilliant! Thanks.
Sam said: Tue, 8 January 2008 at 19:55
I’ve been working on a stuck dvd from over a month, until i just stumbled upon your site. I used a folded business card instead and it worked on the first try, and it’s ridiculous how happy I got over such a small accomplishment!
Wyhldher said: Fri, 11 January 2008 at 22:23
I have (obviously stupidly!!!) inserted a cleaning cd with (*&^%!!!) sweepers into my (elderly) G4 - and of course, it’s stuck. If there IS a god, someone brilliant may have some suggestions… (other than not being so mental as to put one in in the first place - why, oh why do these cds not have a ‘unsuitable for Macs’ warning?) May a thousand nymphs kiss the feet of anyone who can help until their lips are callused…
Bernardo said: Fri, 18 January 2008 at 00:22
MAN!!!! YOU SAVE MY LIFE!!!!!!! REALLY THANK YOU!!!!
MikeI said: Fri, 18 January 2008 at 02:22
What an excellent idea ! I have a MacBook that I could not get to accept a cd … some catch just inside and to the right was preventing a cd from being inserted at all…. I just used a folded sheet of paper and swished it around inside… heard the mechanism spin and release, and now it takes CD’s …. A Very Cool Fix !
Kelly said: Sun, 20 January 2008 at 06:43
Thank you SO MUCH!
oh my gosh, it’s happened to me before and I freaked out but it always came out. This time, i was trying to burn DVD from my iTunes and when i tried to take it out, it either tried to play the disk or wouldn’t come out! I was so freaked! Then i stuck a thin piece of plastic in there, well my dad did, and it came right out! I was so nervous, and it worked! Thank you SO MUCH!!
kelly
peter said: Sun, 20 January 2008 at 12:42
Thank you!!!!!! I had a stuck movie DVD in my drive–eject button didn’t work, the DVD icon didn’t show up on my desktop or in Finder–and I was so worried that it’d cost me like $300 to get it out (my macbook pro is out of warranty). I used a credit card, left side, and it popped right out after reboot/pressed trackpad. But the DVD looks in perfect shape so I hope that my superdrive is not damaged and was the cause of this irritation. Thanks for sharing your tip!!
kneale said: Mon, 21 January 2008 at 03:44
bloody brilliant, saved me life.
cheers today
MGMarch said: Fri, 25 January 2008 at 01:45
Pure genius! Tried everyone else’s tricks, then found yours. Mac would not recognize drive, so all the other ideas failed. This worked like a charm. A thousand thanks!
Jill said: Sat, 26 January 2008 at 13:34
A friend had a DVD-R stuck inside his new shiny Intel iMac and none of the usual suggestions worked. He was waiting for his newly acquired Applecare to kick in so didn’t want to void warranty by using the card method more than once. He used terminal command drutil list, then drutil tray eject 1. Did this (by pasting) over and over again in quick succession and it popped out after about the seventh go. Worth a mention.</