This worked for me as well. I "discovered" it when I just left the MacBook in disgust and went to do something else for a while. I came back and Mac OS X had booted and there was the CD sticking out.

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New Mac?
Basics4Mac.com
Your Personal Mac Guide - Tips and Live Help for new Mac users and Switchers

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another approach:

* put the laptop to sleep
* let the drive STOP all access to the disc (listen for whirring sounds)
* wake-up the laptop

the eject key should now work.

my circumstance: a D/L disc burned on a pc had a couple of files (when launched) that would cause the dvd drive to grind (endlessly) -- any & all access to machine it would be impossible!

this disc failed on the internal (apple oem) dvd drive drive of TWO different macs - on both a powerpc mini as well as a intel C2D macbook! ...

yet the same (PC burned) disc caused NO such problem when plyaed back from an *external* dvd drive that was _not_ ASAS! (apple shipped/supported) ... in this case, the external dvd drive is an LG GSA-H10N (which otherwise is a totally USELESS drive on a mac becuase it cant burn S/L or D/L ±R ... but strangely the H10N *can* burn +RW eraseables but not -RW eraseables (firmware JL10).

this is a weird example of where 'pc' media will work on a pc harware connected to a mac without a driver! (patchburn doesnt really work on tiger anymore) but will NOT work on mac hardware! (apple oem drives).

Anyways, the sleep/wake seems to decouple the i/o arbitration framework in osx --- which underscores the magnitude of apple's oversight viz not having created any user-based (but low-level) system command to disconnect a device ... or more precisely, a user-level command to OVER-RIDE the "protection" apple (forcibly) offers to users from "accidently" making hardware "errors".

Hopefully, the driver architectute in Leopard cleans up all the crazy anomolies like this - ie incomplete enmeration of use-cases (of course these ever-gowing loose threads represent the price appple pays for not using UML for design and SDL for testing!).

---
mailto:osxinfo _at_ yahoo.ca


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I too can confirm this as it happened to me just four days ago. I was burning a DVD and the burn failed. I couldn't eject the disk so I rebooted and also tried the trackpad button trick. That didn't work for me either.

Not being able to boot my MBP I got on the phone with AppleCare. After I had been on hold waiting for a rep for about twelve minutes the MBP spontaneously ejected the DVD and continued to boot.

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You can always try holding down the eject button while booting. Always works for me.

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boot into open firmware and enter: eject cd

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OpenFirmware on a MBP?
Can I buy yours? :D

Stuck CDs should be ejected in terminal with

drutil tray open
drutil tray eject

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The point of this hint is that you don't have the access to the terminal as your MacBook is offline (with the CD/DVD in it)

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Several approaches might fails as the SuperDrive appears to keep trying on reading the CD/DVD as it tries to boot from it.

This specifically useful in the case where you've inserted a faulty CD/DVD or maybe region-specific DVD that your drive won't be able to read it and somehow turned off your mac before ejecting it, then the pressing & holding Eject on booting or loading to the firmware doesn't works.

However, this 10-minutes approach will work, so don't panic! (OK..wait for 10-15 minutes due to relative/subjective timing)

Not that i want it to happened on anyone though

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Incredible timing. This happened to me yesterday and I brought it to a certified Apple repair shop. I called them this morning and asked them to try it - sure enough it worked. If only Apple support had suggested this first...



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Glad to see it has been solved. At least, you can get back your Mac sooner than expected and most of all, not panicking if it does happen again.

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I'll say it again, not enough Apple Support Teams are reading MacOSXHints! ;)

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Well.. if you shut the MBP down before you eject the stuck CD - yes. If your CD got stuck, try the drutil command first and only if this fails try a reboot.

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thanks!
drutil eject did it for me
i recommend you try it before any of the other methods mentioned here

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It worked for me. But slightly different. In about 2-3 minutes, MBP rebooted and said the disk inserted was not readable and asked me to eject the disk and it did. Thanks everyone.

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I just had a customer with the same issue - couldn't even get to the bootpicker with the disc in the drive. The 10 minute wait paid off and the machine did boot and ejected the disc. Fortunately, he had called AppleCare previously and gotten a case number for the issue; they were unable to help and so recommended he take it to an Apple Specialist. Because of this I was able to get a CS code to cover the labor after referring Apple to this article!

Since there's obviously some fairly consistent issue here, hopefully it'll make it to the engineers. In this case the stuck disc was an obvious mis-burn; it's almost as if when EFI gets ahold of a disc with a damaged or unkown format, it scours the disc for any info it can find before proceeding with the boot sequence. Very annoying.

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"Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said." So I have, and it is obvious that lots of folks are suffering from the same glitch, not just on MacBooks, but here on a G4 Powerbook w OSX; I report this in hopes that Apple picks up on it, as AppleCare Mike has suggested.
I had a quite similar experience with a new commercial audio CD, in a G4 Powerbook. The CD would barely mount, nor in my MacBookPro. In the G4, I got it to mount and copied the tunes into a folder on the desktop, and the eject button led to a whimpy whir and the disk jammed part-way out [didn't protrude, of course]. Eventually, I shut the lid, putting the machine to sleep, and came to the MBPro at this website hunting for help [thanks everyone!]; I returned, planning to try a reboot, opened the lid, and the CD ejected, I think, or at least was fully ejected when I tried the eject button [sorry, memory going fast]. Whew! I can't see anything wrong with the CD, no label to get in the way, the catalog track and all else looks unblemished. I got a copy of it and original's in the trash.

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This happened to me also. Nothing worked and I tried everything: Waiting 10 minutes, holding mouse button, eject button, boot up key-sequences, holding laptop vertical, etc.

However, I did find a page that helped me (actually saved me) http://www.silvermac.com/2006/dvd-stuck-in-macbook-pro/

In a nutshell I took a folded business card, slid it in the DVD slot and twisted. Then I hit the power button. It tried to spin-up the dvd three or four times, but the pressure caused by business card kept the cd stationary and it eventually ejected it.

Also, on a side note this problem was caused by trying to import a CD into iTunes that was heavily scratched. I left the laptop when I went to work and it was slowing importing using error-correction, however, when I got back home the laptop had rebooted and was stuck in the mode described in the post.

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Please help!

I have a cd stuck, and have already tried so many suggestions on my Black MacBook.

I can hear the CD making some movement when I first press eject, but then if i press again it is silent.
The eject sign comes up on screen, but just fades away, and no CD!
I have tried rebooting and waiting 20 mins.
I have tried rebooting and holding down the bottom click button.
I have tried the business card, and the folded cardboard, also typing the eject command into the terminal, as suggested on one of these threads!
Also holding it and shaking the slit down, while pressing eject!

NO JOY!

Is there anything else I can do?
Im not great with the pasting of commands etc, as a computer-idiot I dont understand alot of what it can do!
Just wanna get the cd out.

Do you think if I took it too an Apple Store they would know?

If anyone has any new methods please write back!
I will try to understand, even if complex!

many thanks
Alice

xx

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it works, thank God

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I had a paper stickered DVD stuck in the smartdrive. Sounds weird but the following worked for me. I tried all of the above tips without success. Then I lifted the macbook so that the smartdrive opening was facing the ground, pressed the eject button and as the drive tried to eject the DVD (you can hear the gears moving), I gently shock it up and down to give the DVD a little G-force. The DVD popped out!

Bosco

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All of the hints listed here have failed! My audio CD is STILL stuck in the MBP's CD Drive--it reads the CD and will play from it--it just won't eject. Horrible noises when it tries..... I've tried....

waiting 10 minutes--waiting 15 minutes--waiting overnight

using the commands listed in this thread in the terminal window

rebooting holding down the Eject key

rebooting holding down the trackpad button

using a business card to gently keep the CD from spinning (that failed in an interesting fashion--the computer wouldn't boot until I let the CD spin)

trying to eject the CD with the MBP upside down

trying to eject the CD with the superdrive pointed down (rotated 90 degrees from "normal" ANy other suggestions? Or is my drive likely fried?? Thanks, Richard

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OK, on about the dozenth (if that's a word) try, holding the MBP with the drive pointed down, holding the eject button, and _g_e_n_t_l_y_ shaking the computer in an up-and-down fashion got the CD to eject.

But should I trust this CD Drive again???

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Worked first time. Rockin. Just hold on tight. HA

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I have received a number of emails and responses regarding this solution. Please note that this post is tested on MacBookPro Dual Core 15.4" 2GHz. It hasn't been confirmed whether it works for the older Mac or MacBook or the newer Core 2 Duo series (Although it would surprise me if it doesn't). It would help if you include your Mac's specs in your reply to help out others.

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I was going to comment that none of these worked for my white Macbook Core2Duo when a little bit popped out. The drive was trying to suck the disc back in when I saw it and pulled the disc out un-gracefully. I popped in a blank dvd-r to make sure the drive still worked. BTW the drive kept trying to eject the disc on it's own even after booting into Finder; when the disc finally popped back out, it was probably about ten minutes from boot. I didn't really keep track.

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Blame it on the CD...

Same thing happened to me with an audio CD. Ejecting with the drive slot facing the floor solved the problem. After I finally ejected the (brand new never played before) CD, I noticed it had a weird bump on the data side (only noticeable when you look at it at a certain angle). Other CDs I tried afterwards ejected flawlessly.

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Worked for me! My MacBook was already freezing upon startup (bluish white screen) and the disk won't eject. It booted itself out when I waited. Thanks for the tip!

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It took about 10-15 minutes, but did eject! Thanks for the tip!

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OMFG!!! I LOVE YOU MAN~~~!!!!!

i got my new macbook, Black Edition.
Right~~ i want to install windows, ok. i partition it wrong, and it invalid ops it, and i cant do ANYTHING,. but the trackpad works, and it ejects because of you!! I LOVEEEEE YOU!!!!!

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Hi just had the Same issue as you guys.. i solved mine by booting the unit upside down with my finger on the trackpad button... it spat the disk straight out!!!!

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I can verify this works on a new iMac also.
Apple gave me a dozen different ways to eject a CD/DVD and nothing worked. They suggested i take it to an Apple store. I used a thin but heavy piece of paper and folded it so that it would be about an 1 and 1/2 wide and about 6" long; slipped it into the slot to the front of the disk. Restarted my computer and in about 30 sec's out popped the disk.

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Another update!

Put a CD into my drive that had been sent to me and it would not load or eject. Tried re-booting many times and twice the disk image came up on the desktop. But even then, when I tried ejecting, the disk image disappeared from the desktop but the disk itself would not eject.

Kept re-booting and trying everything above, holding the mouse down and other suggested keys/buttons, had my tongue in the right position and all - but just could not get the disk to eject.

Then I read the post above and held the MBP upside down and pressed the eject button.

Out came the CD as smooth as silk! ;-)

Thanks for that post - you saved me!

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This worked for me. Thanks!

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Fire up Terminal.app, and enter "drutil eject" (without the quotes). That should eject the DVD. If not, you can try rebooting.

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If you have another mac around, connect them via firewire and boot as a target disk (hold down T as you reboot the macbook with the stuck disc).

If the stuck disc shows up on the other mac's desktop, eject it.

This worked in a situation where the hard drive on the macbook was not mounting.

YMMV,
-JD

---
"I want my two dollars!"

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Yes ... waiting works when the reboot-button down doesn't. Go figger.

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Thanks! This approach still works in 2008, with the 2.6 Mac Book Pro.

Photonics Man

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I had a DVD stuck in a MBP 2.53. (It did not interfere with boot up.) Anytime I tried to Play or Eject it I got error: -70012. I Restarted, no fix, Restarted from an external drive and ran Diskwarrior, no fix.

But online I noticed a post where someone had a similar problem and Shut Down and Started up again (rather than Restart, he/she had already tried) and succeeded in fixing the problem. So I tried this, and, sure enough, the disk mounted and all was normal again.

[I make the mistake of thinking Restart = Shut Down + Startup]

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I followed all the great advice and I did get the disk out but my system is still not kicking in. I'm getting a flashing question mark on my macbook. When I go to reboot the system turns off in 1 split second which makes me think the system is not on at all. Any advice

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Literally just ejected my CD using the folded business card trick so thank you for that! I also have the flashing question mark. This is due to a faulty hard disk that needs replacing!

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I had a Leopard install disk that I wanted ejected and I have an imac with a logitech PC keyboard. To eject, I booted with the alt (option) key down and selected the install disk and hit F12. It ejected. At that point I could put in another DVD to boot from. This was after my internal hard drive was hosed and I couldn't boot from it.

I think another way might be to boot with the alt (option) key down and boot from an external drive and use disk utility to eject the CD/DVD in question.

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I tried with the card board insertion and it worked after a while, which was amazing. Then the user stuck another DVD back into it, I didn't have my piece of card, randomly I turned the MacBook over so that the keys were facing the ground, then pushed eject, miraculously the dvd popped straight out. Tested the theory a few times and seems to work. Hope it helps.

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