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[On Reflection]

So, laptop, 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4, 768 MB DDR SDRAM running Version 10.3.9.

I'm using DVD Player Version 4.0, I put the DVD in (I've tried different DVDs with same results) it runs fine, apart from the fact blue and yellow blocks appear on-screen in random places and when I quit DVD Player there is a small random set of blocks on the desktop, but they are black and white. They don't intefere with any desktop icons. If I restart they disappear. Same happens if I use the niceplayer application I downloaded instead.

So, really, is my DVD drive fucked/does it need to be taken to a professional, or is there some miracle cure?

Help me lptj, you're my only hope.

[diesel_powered]

I'm gonna go with the following possibilities in order of things to try:

1) Your dvd is dirty. Clean it.
2) Your dvd drive is dirty. Get a can of air and try to spray the dust out.
3) Your dvd player software might be fucked. Try VLC Media Player (both DVD Player and VLC play DVDs fine on my 1.67 GHz G4 Powerbook).
4) Your dvd drive has a bad read head. Send to Apple.

It sounds like you're getting read errors of some kind (as represented by the blocks of missing data showing up onscreen) which is causing the program to become unstable. I've had various problems with the DVD drive in my powerbook and most of the literature I've read about it has stated that it's all bugs with the drive and software.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I think it was Greg who mentioned that you can fix iPods with certain drive failures by whacking them to one side and then to the other and believe it or not, I can wholeheartedly attest that this is the truth! One of my friends dropped her iPod one too many times, so I told her to perform that procedure and oddly enough, it knocked the disk platter back into place and it works fine now. This, of course, only works on iPods with such a failure. YMMV.

[SPACERACE]

not to steal the talking stick, but, uh, what kind of drive bugs are common, because my powerbook's drive hasn't done a goddamn thing for like, 7-9 months and if i could gain at least a CD burner/player oh ho ho would that ever be useful

[On Reflection]

Thanks Diesel! I shall investigate.

[Greg Nog]

Woo!  I'm glad that worked, diesel.  I learned about it from my cousin, who worked at an Apple store, so he presumably knows of what he speaks.

[diesel_powered]

not to steal the talking stick, but, uh, what kind of drive bugs are common, because my powerbook's drive hasn't done a goddamn thing for like, 7-9 months and if i could gain at least a CD burner/player oh ho ho would that ever be useful

Well, when I rip things in iTunes they always come out totally glitchy, but since I got the LAME plugin for iTunes and started using that, it's been perfectly okay.

Other than that, sometimes when I insert a disc, the drive goes all "wtfsauce??" and starts spinning oddly and I have to forcibly eject the disc. However, after this it works fine when I reinsert it.

Both of these, possibly on this very board, have been stated as bugs.

[SPACERACE]

see, mine accepts the disc, starts spinning as if all is well, but then goes "merp! MERRPP!" and spits it out. sound like a bug?


caveat: this happened right after i dropped it for the first time, i think.

[On Reflection]

Diesel... Diesel, I will perform fellatio upon you if we ever meet. VLC worked.

And Reese, my laptop has had troubles in the past with the "MERRRP", but only on certain discs.

[diesel_powered]

see, mine accepts the disc, starts spinning as if all is well, but then goes "merp! MERRPP!" and spits it out. sound like a bug?


caveat: this happened right after i dropped it for the first time, i think.

Does this "merp! MERRPP!" sound like the disc spinning fast, and then faster still? Sounds like a read problem which can only be fixed by professionals. The post-dropping deal kinda backs this up.





Meanwhile, this is tech related but not computer related:

Anybody have any experience fixing the RCA's on the back of a TV? The video line on my TV is kind of loose and it's creating video problems. Particularly nasty ones. Is this something that could potentially be fixed with some contact cleaner? Will I kill myself if I open the case and attempt to secure this connection?

[SPACERACE]

see, mine accepts the disc, starts spinning as if all is well, but then goes "merp! MERRPP!" and spits it out. sound like a bug?


caveat: this happened right after i dropped it for the first time, i think.

Does this "merp! MERRPP!" sound like the disc spinning fast, and then faster still? Sounds like a read problem which can only be fixed by professionals. The post-dropping deal kinda backs this up.

nah, sort of a "bwrrrrp" like the laser moving in its track, trying in vain to scan the entirety of the disc.

as for your RCAs, you could be sketchy and try to bend it a little bit. after-run oil, for nitro powered remote control cars works well as a contact cleaner, also.

[diesel_powered]

see, mine accepts the disc, starts spinning as if all is well, but then goes "merp! MERRPP!" and spits it out. sound like a bug?


caveat: this happened right after i dropped it for the first time, i think.

Does this "merp! MERRPP!" sound like the disc spinning fast, and then faster still? Sounds like a read problem which can only be fixed by professionals. The post-dropping deal kinda backs this up.

nah, sort of a "bwrrrrp" like the laser moving in its track, trying in vain to scan the entirety of the disc.

as for your RCAs, you could be sketchy and try to bend it a little bit. after-run oil, for nitro powered remote control cars works well as a contact cleaner, also.

Yeah, that definitely sounds like you're kinda screwed. Either send it in for repairs or invest in an external drive (they're pretty cheap now... maybe you could get one of those nifty lightscribe ones.)

As for after-run oil, I'm off to the hobby shop! Either that or I need to find somewhere that sells one of those nice Caig contact cleaner pens. My contacts all could use a cleanin' anyway.

I'm fairly certain the board might be cracked in some way, though. I had this really tight RCA cable I was hooking things up with at one point and it required quite a bit of pushing to get it on (I was young, naive, etc.) and I remember giving it a good hard shove which was immediately followed by a large cracking sound. It didn't really show up until years later, but now when I jiggle it, it gets worse/better.

[SPACERACE]

hot damn, lightscribe DVD writers are actually cheap! i never thunk it. when i went to the apple store for a quote on a new superdrive, they said $400 and i really had to try not to slap that motherfucker across the head.

[Andrew_TSKS]

wait, you can get external cd drives? can you get external cd-rw drives? because that would be way easier for me than trying to replace my burnt out cd-rw drive that's built into my computer right now.

not to be too terribly lazy or anything. i just have a real phobia of cracking open the case and messing about with stuff.

[SPACERACE]

you betcha. you can get external anything, basically. i'm looking at a lightscribe DVD -/+RW drive for 70 bucks. though, you can get the same thing internal for 10-20 bucks less, so it's a question of is it worth it

[Andrew_TSKS]

yeah, i might be willing to pay the extra for the external simply because i wouldn't have to crack open the case. that might be worth it to me. i'm too afraid of fucking stuff up.

[SPACERACE]

it's seriously super-duper easy. unplug everything from the back of the burnt drive. take out old drive. take the new drive, plug stuff in where it was plugged in before. screw in new drive where old one was. bam

[diesel_powered]

Yeah, dude. Don't be afraid of cracking the case. In fact, when you buy your drive, plunk down a buck on a set of thumbscrews for the case. That way when you get the openin' bug, you won't have to have a screwdriver handy.

[jebreject]

yeah, opening the case is just like opening the hood of your car.  no one says "i'll just buy an external oil pump 'cause i'm afraid of fuckin' things up" y'know?

[Andrew_TSKS]

ok, you guys are right, i'll do it.

when i've got the cash. right now buying a four-track is a priority.

[SPACERACE]

so i'm fucked:



this is the most gruesome crash i've ever seen on a mac. a debug log just appeared on top of the screen, some things about a kernel failure, something about panicking, and some hex code. right now, my computer completely locks up and needs to be force restarted about every 10 minutes or so, depending on what i'm doing. yippee.

[das kranke Tier]

That blows, man.

[SPACERACE]

also, when i start it sometimes (or even wake it from sleep,) it just boops three times, and the light on the front flashes three times at 5 second intervals, and then needs to be force restarted.

i reset the pram and nvram, and it still happened, so i just reset the PMU and i'm hoping that does something.

[andronicus]

Back up your stuff real quick.

[SPACERACE]

oh, i would love to.

got 120g of hard drive space i can use?

[alex]

something about panicking

"panic...we're hanging here"

uh yeah, sorry, i got nothing. one of the macs of this political group that i used to be active in used to do when you tried to boot mac os x (i think), and we were going to make t-shirts with that slogan. never happened, as far as i know.