Disabling SuperDrive on Macbook - possible?

[kg1984]

Hi,

My girlfriend's MacBook's (1st revision - 1GB RAM - SuperDrive - Tiger) SuperDrive recently stopped working after it refused to eject a CD-R (which eventually came out). Now, every time it wakes from sleep or is turned on, the SuperDrive sounds like what I can only describe as if it were chewing a CD (even though no disc is actually in there).

Apple Store said to replace the SuperDrive would be around 200 GBP, and whilst we debate the merits of either sending it in for this or possibly doing the replacement myself (any tips on this?), is it possible to disable the SuperDrive? That is, to turn it off internally in such a way that the system no longer recognizes it? A bios setting or something similar? The chewing sound is very annoying.

Any help appreciated.

p.s. It's like a Macbook audio OM NOM NOM

 

[eman]

You could pull the key board off and unplug the superdrive. Also, you could order another drive online and swap the drive yourself , if you're up to the task.

 

[kg1984]

You could pull the key board off and unplug the superdrive. Also, you could order another drive online and swap the drive yourself , if you're up to the task.

Replacing it myself is definitely a possibility... any ideas where they sell SuperDrives? eBay seems a bit sparse.

 

[eman]

Replacing it myself is definitely a possibility... any ideas where they sell SuperDrives? eBay seems a bit sparse.

Look for a UJ-857 superdrive on ebay.

 

[alexjdb]

Were you able to actually get the CD off the drive ? If not, they should be able to do at least that in the store. OWC sells SuperDrives for MacBooks.

 

[kg1984]

Were you able to actually get the CD off the drive ? If not, they should be able to do at least that in the store. OWC sells SuperDrives for MacBooks.

It's very strange, the drive was making this churning noise with the CD inside it, I managed to get the CD ejected, but the noise continues.

Thanks for all the tips.

 

[Silver-Fox]

This actually happened to me kinda....

It sounded like there was a piece of paper in the drive and it was just spinning that, so i just shook the macbook around for a bit with the DVD in and it stopped and no harm was done ^_^

 

[Aegelward]

check out some online stores that are specialists in mini-itx components, a fair few of those have slot-loading drives

http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=73 for example, some are even cheaper than ebay examples i can find, and at least the drives are brand new

 

[eman]

check out some online stores that are specialists in mini-itx components, a fair few of those have slot-loading drives

http://linitx.com/viewcategory.php?catid=73 for example, some are even cheaper than ebay examples i can find, and at least the drives are brand new

Those internal drives will not fit the macbook.