2009 iMac 10,1 Catalina 10.15.7 ejecting CD

[RealRobD]

2009 iMac 10,1 Catalina 10.15.7 Ripped about 50 some CD's and suddenly the optical drive will read an inserted CD then spit it out. It's not the CD's. I have tried others that I have already ripped and it spits them out too. Did a restart and a shut down, no love.

Drive is listed in System Report.

Clicking the drive icon on the Menu Bar reveals "No Drive"
After another restart it says "SuperDrive" but still ejects.

Update: Teardown > lens cleaned. Seems fine.

 

[Fishrrman]

From what I've read, the iMacs with built in DVD/CD drives have a record of the drives not being that "robust" -- in other words, prone to failure. The iMac now being almost 15 years old would point in this direction.

You might consider an external USB DVD/CD drive, they are cheap.
READ REVIEWS -- some of these require a "double USB connection" in order to obtain enough USB "bus power".
Others work fine with only a single USB connection.

For longevity, you might consider a "heavier duty" unit in a 5.25" drive enclosure with its own power supply.