This fix has been proven temporary. Many users have used it and had a working drive. After reboots, however, the drive firmware is corrupted again. Only try this method as a last resort.
A more detailed post on this issue is coming soon.
A little backstory… Many months ago, Apple released a software update titled “SuperDrive Update 2.1″ for MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. Unfortunately, the update was flawed. It bricked many drives, and severely limited the function of others. Here’s a quick article on the matter:
Following close on the heels of our recent report that Apple’s SuperDrive Firmware Update 2.1 for MacBook and MacBook Pro is causing widespread failure of optical drives (as witness, for example, the plethora of reports on Apple’s own discussion boards), Apple has apparently pulled the update from circulation. The previous information URL … now leads nowhere. Neither does the download link.
My drive was damaged in that it no longer would recognize CD-R media (blank CDs). Back in July, I sent my MacBook Pro to Apple for a SuperDrive replacement, and they sent it back with a new installation of Tiger. Although I was outraged, that fixed my problem for a few months – until I installed Mac OS X Leopard. Again, my drive would not recognize cd-r media, and would report voltage errors in disk utility.
Again, Apple has shown us the company that they are. They refuse to officially acknowledge the issue to spite the outcry of thousands of users whose computers have been damaged.
Luckily, a very talented hacker (in a good sense) has released a tool to fix the problem. In this thread on Apple’s discussion boards, someone re-posted the fix. In hopes of spreading the remedy, I’m reposting it here.
“ben11″ wrote:
Hello,
After some private message exchanges it seems I was able to help some people in this situation (inclduing the original poster). I wrote a simple utility to perform a very basic flash to the drive – doing that may be able to recover the situation, but my flash utility performs almost no checks and is generally much more basic than the framework which, for example, the standard Apple Superdrive updaters have used.
So, if your drive is in a similar situation this may be able to help. But only try if you feel you’ve exhausted every other possibility, such as having the drive replaced. This flash process may not work for you, or in the worst case it could conceivably leave your drive is a worse state than before. It is of coursed not endorsed by anybody, in particular not Apple nor the drive manufacturer (or anybody at rpc1.org either).
As I wrote, compared to the standard updaters this utility makes few checks on the drive status – so unless your drive has really lost its standard operating firmware, often because of an interrupted flash, don’t use this rather than a more featured updater.
Simple flash utility archive:
http://rapidshare.com/files/57312123/SimpleFlash.zip.html
There is the terminal based utility (and source code) – along with copies of the HAEA, HBEA, KBVB, KCVB (RPC1 patched) firmwares for the UJ-857 and UJ-857D.
Basic Instructions
You need to download the “SimpleFlash.zip” file, unpack it and then run it using the terminal. e.g. assuming you have downloaded the archive file to your desktop you can unpack like this:ben11s-computer:~ ben11$ cd Desktop
ben11s-computer:~/Desktop ben11$ unzip SimpleFlash.zip
ben11s-computer:~/Desktop ben11$ cd SimpleFlashto use the utility you start it using ONE of the following commands:
./simple_flash 0 UJ857-HAEA-MBP-rpc1.dat
or
./simple_flash 0 UJ857-HBEA-MB-rpc1.dat
or
./simple_flash 0 UJ857D-KBVB-MB-rpc1.dat
or
./simple_flash 0 UJ857D-KCVB-MBP-rpc1.dat
(choose according to the firmware you need, see below)
It will prompt you to answer if you want to continue – to which you can type ‘yes’ or ‘y’, if you want to go on. The flash should start and will take about 30 seconds after which the utility should say “Finished”. At this point I recommended you restart your Mac. If all has gone well your drive should be responding again.
Choosing the Firmware
The firmware included are the ones that the “Apple Superdrive 2.1″ update offered for Matshita drives – except the ones in this archive have RPC1 patches. If you don’t want RPC1 you could go back to standard firmware using the updaters posted in other threads on this forum after your drive is responding again.In principal the utility would also flash other matshita UJ-8xx drives, but suitable firmware data files are not included for them.
HAEA, HBEA are for UJ-857
KBVB, KCVB are for UJ-857DIf your drive previously had:
HAC1 or HAE4 use HAEA
HBE4 use HBEA
KBV9 use KBVB
KCV9 use KCVBIf you don’t know the previous firmware revision you had then: As far as I know firmware revisions HAEA & KCVB are used in the Macbook Pro, HBEA & KBVB are used in the Macbook. Choose according to which model of mac and which model of drive you have.
The optical drive should not accept a firmware corresponding the wrong drive model, but for a given model the various revisions may have slight differences, perhaps because of different physical constraints on the hardware – so try to pick the appropriate revision.
Good luck.
Ben’s fix worked on my SuperDrive just fine. I can now see and burn all the types of media that I’m suppose to be able to.
If you’re someone who came across this post looking for a solution, I wish you luck. However, I make no guarantees that this remedy will work and am not responsible for any damage done to your drive.
I saw that. Tried it, and it didn’t work for me. I dunno what I did wrong (I followed the instructions exactly). Oh well.
Worked for me, on a macbook pro 15″ with UJ-857D / KCVB revision.
Thanks!
I used that flash too, and it worked just once; i was able to write a cd-r and then i thought my superdrive MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D was fixed, but when i turned on my macbook later that day, it was still damaged.
My firmware reads KBVB and its RPC1…but its still broken; my cd´s keep being ejected by the drive (even the original os x install disc)and forget about burning dvd´s or cd´s…it got back to square one…broken. This is very frustrating…can anyone help?…is it posible i over-flashed the superdrive? (i read in a lot of forums that there is a limited number of flashes per drive.
How can i fix this?.
PLEASE HELP.
Would it be possible to run the script automatically at boot?
@Ham Brown: You can try dragging the script to System Preferences > Accounts > Startup.
I don’t know if it’ll work.
Hi, and thanks!
May MacBook Pro 2.33 (Late 2007) for the last 8 months or so has become more and more fussy with recognizing Blank CD’s and DVD’s to the point wrer it spits out every 99 CDs out of 100.. I can’t tell you the date that it started getting fussy but I knew that it once was not fussy and the next it was.
I took it to a Mac Shop and they replaced the hard drive but as soon as I got home the problem was there! After visiting the Mac shop and trying to convince them time and time again that something was wrong they sent me away as if I was crazy!
After coming across this site and following the instructions above (I’m no Genius) my superdrive (MATSHITADVD-R UJ-857D) now recognize any CD or DVD I put into it! Thanks so so so so much for your help!
@Delaymad That’s what’s happened with all of our machines, too. I’m sorry you’ve been bitten by the same “bug”.
Unfortunately, this type of treatment seems “standard” from Apple in this instance. I can give you other examples of fantastic customer service from Apple, but anything involving these Matshita drives is a tale of woe.
I’m glad to hear that this fix worked for you! You’ve very welcome. We’re all in this together.
Hi again Richard,
My super drive will now recognize cd and dvd but will now not burn. It says it having communication problems. Can you give me any ideas what to do? Thanks
Sorry Joshua, but everything that I know is already written on this blog.
I wish you luck with your struggle.
I have the same problem here,
My MBP 2.4GHz with the following superdrive details
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:
Firmware Revision: AP12
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
———-
can somebody here help me out ?
the drive always spit out any CD/DVD everytime I inserted
please any suggestion appreciated
thanks
iQ, that’s not a Matshita drive. It’s out of my expertise, but I wish you luck, regardless.
I have a late 2007 Macbook Pro with the same superdrive symptoms discussed here and the problem all started after operating system upgrades back in December last year. After hearing this i’m going to go spare on Apple tech support.
There is one quirk though, i have a ‘MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E’ — not a ‘D’ model like is being discussed, my firmware version is ‘ZA0E’ not like the above aforementioned.
Can anyone perhaps give me some guidance on this, should i attempt a flash?
Hi, Ben and all has anyone found a fix for this piece of you know what MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E drive? Doesn’t read any files! Nothing. Spits out disks when I confirm on another computer that the files are there. The magic line is “untitled” for evey disk.
Any help would be great!!
Ben and George.
I recommend calling Apple and politely demanding some level of service. I do not recommend flashing your drives with firmware that wasn’t specifically made for those drives. It’s dangerous!
Best of luck.
I am having the same problem. My superdrive is accepting disks & about 30 seconds later, spits them out again! I ran the SimpleFlash & still the drive is behaving the same. I’ve also called Apple support & they had me do all the things I have already done, to no avail. I’ve had this computer since October 2006 & it just started having the problem about a month ago.
Here’s the details on my drive:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857:
Firmware Revision: HAEA
Worth noting: I downloaded a virtual drive “Tune4Mac” and have since uninstalled it. Prior to me downloading that application, the Superdrive seemed to work fine. Maybe it needs a new driver or something??
Thanks!
Marissa:
That sounds like the problem, alright. I would politely demand an answer from Apple support. You clearly did nothing wrong to damage the hardware on this drive.
Might I add: when speaking to Apple support, I wouldn’t mention that you used Tune4Mac. I don’t think they’d take kindly to software that circumvents copyright.
Good luck!
Richard, there was a call on the 13 september 2008 for superdrive failure ” HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:”, do you have good news because I experiencing the same error, Apple in RSA wants replace the drive for more R3500.00, quite ridiculous. thanks
pierre marais – I don’t have any good news for you. Sorry!
I am in the same boat as the hundreds if not thousands that have posted about their macbook not recognizing blank discs. My macbook is about a 1.5 years old (Leopard) and will not recognize any blank media, even the media that worked last month! I have hit a dead end would really appreciate any assistance. My warranty is out and Apple has not been helpful… at all. Thanks so much
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:
Firmware Revision: ZB0E
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
This is the info that I get when I try
mac:~ danijela$ ./simple_flash 0 UJ857D-KCVB-MB-rpc1.dat
-bash: ./simple_flash: No such file or directory
what should I do?
Thanks
Jessica, I wish I could say more to you. I think the only thing you can do is recommend going to an apple reseller for a repair. If flashing the firmware doesn’t work, you’re out of luck. I hope you’re able to repair the problem. I hate how Apple abandons people like this.
danijela, be sure the terminal is currently located at the location of the simple_flash utility first. Try using the “cd” command (change directory) to navigate to the right place. This may help you. http://guides.macrumors.com/Terminal
thank you… I did it finally, but it can now only read already burned cd, cannot reckognize empty cd-r, cd-rw, dvd-r, nor burned dvd. I am not clever enough to do anything more on my own…I did the repair of permissions in disk utuility and that is all.
danijela – It sounds like you have the same problem. It’s amazing how flaky these SuperDrives are. Have you taken the machine to an Apple Store?
Well. this morning I tried to watch a video and to my amazement, the drive is ejecting DVD’s. CD’s seem to work, but dvd’s do not. The drive exhibits the same inabilities the previous posts do. So I guess I am screwed as the rest.
I will probably buy a external drive since I use my MBP from home only.
tohaus – You seem to have diagnosed it well. Best of luck with whatever external drive you purchase.
Hey there guys STOP PRESS – I don’t know how many of you are still having this problem… I had EXACTLY all these symptoms (DISCs being ejected from the drive after a short spin up, nothing reading, nothing writing… totally boned drive), and was gearing up for a internal SuperDrive purchase out of warranty – when I read that the 2.1 firmware upgrade (amongst other things) made the drive a lot more ’sensitive’, and the net result of this is that the drive becomes more fussy when reading disks. Someone on another thread made the comment that this might, when the optical lens is dirty, make reading and mounting disks a lot more hit and miss. I didn’t think much of it, until today. The company I am working at had a pretty standard CD Drive cleaner (the one with the little brush on the surface) lying around. I ran that sucker in the drive for 10sec until it was ejected – threw in a DVD a BANG! she mounts – straight away. I couldn’t believe it. I have been moaning about this for months and it was that simple. I really really hope that all of you can resolve this issue as easily as I have. I’ll report back and let you know how long it works for. But the logic does seem to make sense – and the proof is in this very tasty working SuperDrive Pudding…
Hi, noticed that there’s a mention of issues with the Matshita UJ-857E drive which is a slightly different beast to the one outlined in the original blog article. I’ve had what at the time seemed a fairly significant error with this drive, the error messages being entirely unintuitive. It turned out that the lens was dirty, and this was solved by use of a cleaning disc. Popped the disc in, let it do its thing (ie spin lots), and it’s been fine since. Documented this on my blog (http://www.garysmith.org.uk/blog/index.php/blog/show/Matshita-DVD-R-UJ-857E-problems—dirty-laser.html) and there’s lots of comments on there from people saying they’ve had the same problem, with this solving it for them. Hopefully that’ll help the people who’ve left comments here in the same situation.
Cheers,
Gary Smith
I have a MacBook Pro 15 Inch, 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3GB RAM running Mac OS X 10.5.8 and experienced the same problem with my Matshita DVD-R UJ-867 drive after downloading an Apple Security Update.
I tried everything from spraying air into the drive, a DVD Lense Cleaner Disc, Power resets and even banging the case. I’ve even flashed the DVD Drive but still couldn’t get the MacBook Pro to read either CD or DVD media blank or recorded or commecial discs.
Finally, before I jumped to buy a new drive I decided to buy a set of Torx screwdrivers containing a T-6 Torx driver so I could disassemble my MacBook Pro and remove the Matshita DVD-R UJ-867 drive.
I eventually removed the drive and removed the screws opening the actual drive to reveal the DVD-R drive contents inside. Onnce open I sprayed the optical lense with a can of compressed air and cleaned any dust on the lense and the rest of the inside of the drive. After that I replaced the DVD-R cover and replaced the screws. I then replaced the DVD-R drive back into the MacBook Pro and screwed it all back together.
Once I’d put it all back together I then powered the MacBook Pro up, booted the machine and inserted a music CD THE BEST OF BILL WITHERS and low and behold the CD disc mounted.
So stripping the DVD-R drive and spraying compressed air directly onto the optical lense removed the problem of not being able to load either CD or DVD discs. Now I can read any disc possible and the fix has returned the Matshita DVD-R UJ-867 drive so it now reads both CD and DVD discs as before..
The process is a fiddly but worth the effort. It is my guess that 99 per cent of Superdrive problems experienced by Apple MacBook Pro users using this hardware cleaning method will return their Superdrives to working state so they should be able to read and mount both CD and DVD media..
Job is a good one..
Regards
Kevan
P.S. post this on any and all MacBook Pro forums and blos as possible so other MacBook Pro owners can use the fix to repair their DVD-R Superdrive problem no being able to read and mount CD and DVD media.. Do what I did above and you’ll get your drive back without having to buy a new drive.. If your MacBook Pro is under warranty with Applecare then go to Apple. If the warranty has expired use my fix to repair your Superdrive..
Kevan:
I’ve ripped apart my MacBook Core Duo 13.3″ Black Macbook (I’m technically inclined) and cleaned the Superdrive as you have.
I put it all back together with the same results as before. In my case the dirty lens is “not” the issue. I’ve gone as far as using optic cleaner and an eyeglass cleaning cloth.
Reading some DVDs has been easier, however I still can’t play audio Cds at all, and none of my 50pk of blank CD-Rs no longer work.
ErvDog
The Apple Security Update must have seriously trashed your SuperDrive and I advise you to return to Applecare and see a free replacement if you can..
My solution was a last resort and it worked for me..
Sorry my solution didn’t work for you..
Damn them folks at Apple for this..
Kevan:
Thanks for the feedback. It most certainly won’t hurt to have try and have it replaced. I know my system isn’t new anymore, however, of all the things I’ve every had break on a computer, the CD Drive was never one of them.
I’ll have to see when I can live without it (for business) for some time.
Thanks!
Hello,
I tried the flash but got the following response :
sp_write returned -2130367488
The drive behaves as before e.g. recognizes almost all CD & DVD but sometimes considers some as Blank Disks and prompts for Eject, Ignore or Open in Finder (happens with official – non recorded – CD’s or DVDs as well).
Sometimes I need to reduce write speed t 8* or 16* for it to burn.
Thanks for your feedback,
Cheers
Marc
I have had the same problem but my drive details are:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:
Firmware Revision: FQ3T
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
I take it there is no firmware fix for this?
Cheers
Mike
I’ve had the same issue but never used the burner because I had a second Mac which drive worked perfectly. My AppleCare was finally up and before it ended, I decided to call them up and get it fixed.
I didn’t even try to explain to them that their update killed my SuperDrive. I just said that my drive never worked properly (couldn’t burn anything) and wanted it replaced. 10 seconds later Apple Support person agreed and I took my MBP to local AppleStore and 2 days later I got a new SuperDrive.
FOr the records, the new drive that I got it is the model: UJ-857d and firmware revision is 6AAE.
Instead of screwing around with this flash stuff, just do what I did… if you can still get it serviced after almost two years!
Best,
Dave