New iBook with cd rom failing to open - has anyone seen this?

[Pale Fire]

A friend of mine just got her brand new iBook 900. The problem is, the cd seems to malfunction. It ejects just fine if there is no cd inside, but with a cd pressing the eject button makes it choke, trying over and over again to do the eject procedure but without managing to open it.

If you have an iBook, try this to get an illustration of the problem: Put your finger over the cd tray door holding it shut. Then press eject. The computer will try to eject again and again with a clicking sound.

She finally managed to dig in her fingernails and forcibly open it. That worked. Repeating the experiment apparently yielded the same results.

Anyone experienced this? Before I get her computer shipped away to be fixed, I wanted to get some opinions here to see if it maybe could be easily mended.

 

[Kwyjibo]

is the ibook on a flat surface? I know for mine that if the ibook is slanted in a weird direction or it is being blocked by something when ejectign ti makes that clicking noise? Does the paperclip eject work?

 

[Daveman Deluxe]

A cheap workaround is to stick a straightened paper clip into the little hole on the corner of the CD tray. It sounds as if the ejecting mechanism itself may be toasted, perhaps something is off a rail that it needs.

If there's an Apple Store nearby, talk to a Genius. Other than that, your best bet is to ship it off.

 

[Pale Fire]

As far as I know it has been tested on a flat surface. I'll ask her to try the paper-clip eject, but the eject mechanism consistently works perfectly fine as long as there is no cd inserted, so there is something fishy going on here.

Apparently there is something with the combo cd+tray that seems to prevent the tray from popping open.

 

[thebossisback]

I just got a new iBook and the cd-rom drive wont read a cd inside. Also, you can hear the cd scrape around in the cd drive

 

[Ajmbc]

I have an iBook and my Combo drive would just beep at me and not open instead of clicking, but whatever it's doing, it shouldn't be. As suggested before, I would take it to a Genius at an Apple Store. Since it's new, you can send it in for free and get a new drive. That would be the best option.

=ajmbc=