crypto55 Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Hi, A friend lent me a macbook pro so that I could help them install windows on it with boot camp. I upgraded the firmware and os to 10.4.6, installed windows, etc. Problem was that windows turned itself into the active partition, and I couldn't change os x to the primary. Boot camp wouldn't show up, but just immediately booted into windows. I popped in an os x install disc to try to use the hard drive partition editor built into the disc to change it back to the primary partition (os x), or failing that format everything and just reinstall from scratch. But wait! When I turned on the machine, the cd rom drive whirred, but wouldn't boot. To make matters worse, it WON't EVEN EJECT. I tried pushing the eject button, f12, and even something of an override (holding down the mouse key pad during startup), as well as pushing option-control-o-f and option-control-p-r on startup to try to clear the firmware or something and get the disc out. Didn't work. Now all i have is a computer that makes nice noises and then basically does nothing. To make matters worse, it's my friends, so i HAVE to fix it, lest hell decend upon my work :-(. I'm going to contact Apple support today (I tried last night, they were closed). Any suggestions? I hope it's still under warrenty, although I've never worked with Genius Bar or Apple Support before. Any advice would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouch Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Call them up - it will still be under it's 90 day applecare support. Have you tried using the bootable firmware restore cd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crypto55 Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 Did I not mention that the CD WILL NOT EJECT?? :-( I'm going to call them soon. Details and explanation of solution will hopefully be forthcoming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 erm - disclaimer IANAMBPO but isnt there somewhere to shove a paperclip (to eject cd/dvd) anymore? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietglow Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 shut the computer down. turn it on and immediately press and hold the mouse button until it ejects. mac jedi mindtrick ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crypto55 Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 Hagar - Sadly, Apple killed off the manual emergency paper-clip solution. There is no way to physically force the cd to eject from the drive without booting up, and using the firmware. quietglow - Doesn't work. Tried it on numerous occasions. Holding down option, using the open firmware backdoor, mount via FW on alternative mac laptop, control-option-p-r doesn't work, etc. It's weird, because the firmware doesn't appear to be shot. Just majorly screwed up. I hate how Apple tried to excessively simplify their OS. I knew that it was a bad idea to dump the BIOS. It's a great diagnostic tool. With standard x86 machines, you can always get into the BIOS and check out the operation of all your hardware, format HDDs, maybe even check the MBR. Not in OS X. Apple's dumbed it down so much that it's almost impossible to troubleshoot. All on a $2,500 machine. Ridiculous Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietglow Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Yeah if the mouse button eject doesn't work (and if you cant boot in FW mode), there is somethin dinked in firmware. I know you probably know that. Thats usually the point at which I send em' in for repair here in our lab. I know you don't want to hear that, but sounds dire to me. On my one and only bootcamp install, I ended up losing the mac partition. The nondestructive repartitioning wasn't :-) This wasn't user error--I think this process is something less than 100% safe. It really does suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crypto55 Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 Yes, it does. I just got back from the "genius bar." It sounds like Apple will decide whether or not they want to mess with me in regards to fixing the machine. There's a little bump on the opposite side of the cd tray; they said that 'might' have caused it. I think that this is a case of a lousy firmwire, and neglect for self-diagnostics. The firmware that apple released doesn't seem to be beta, and any problems that Boot Camp may have caused with the computer should be limited to hard driver data, and not the hardware boot sequence. I'd be perfectly happy if Apple returns the macbook pro fixed, with no charge. I'm just concerned if they're going to. This isn't a case of windows destroying the machine, this is a case of mac hardware failing, from the looks of it. There's nothing worse than waiting for a few days while a company decides whether or not to charge you a few hundred dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lady Aerin Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 I stumbled across this page when trying to find a fix for the same problem, and I thought I'd pass along what I found. http://www.silvermac.com/2006/dvd-stuck-in-macbook-pro/ Here's what the problem seems to be, at least in most cases (apparently it's a fairly widespread occurrance): the system is booted with a blank CD or DVD in the drive. The system then tries to boot from the blank media, and hangs, seemingly eternally. The workaround that the Silver Mac guy found was to stick a slim piece of cardstock into the slot (like a business card or the backing of a pack of batteries) and angle it so as to stop the CD from spinning. After a couple of tries, the computer will spit out the disc and boot up instantly. It worked for me, and worked for a bunch of other people who commented on his post. It's probably a little late to help the OP, but hopefully it will help other people with the same issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crypto55 Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 Well, that's all over. Apple fixed and returned the macbook free of charge, and even ended up replacing the entire exterior of the unit south of the screen bezel. So it was actually better than I received it! All's well. I reinstalled Windows (probably not be best of ideas), but it works now perfectly. No pretentious film school glasses required. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigxcpu Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 you can boot from whatever device you like (partition 1, 2... cdrom... usb... firewire) by pressing "option" key at startup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-TiLT- Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 He did that. Did´n work he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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