December 14, 2005 6:45 AM PST

Problems mounting burned DVDs under Mac OS X with Pioneer 106D SuperDrives (#4): More solutions

by CNET staff

We continue coverage of a widespread issue where optical media (CDs or DVDs) fail to mount -- primarily with the Pioneer 106D drive mechanism used on several PowerMac G5s and other models.

To recap: For most users experiencing the problem, the inserted disc remains in the drive or is ejected after a few seconds, but never appears on the Desktop nor becomes accessible by any Mac OS X application. In some cases a drive error message is presented. Interestingly, in many cases a disc burned using Toast, iTunes or another program will appear on the Desktop and function normally while it is still inserted directly after the recording session, but fail to mount as soon it is ejected then re-inserted.

Again, Pioneer 106D drives in early 2004 Power Mac G5s appear to be most susceptible.

MacFixIt reader Raymond Robillard's case is prototypical -- his drive model is a Pioneer 106D, his machine is a Power Mac G5 manufactured in early 2004, and the problem occurred after months of normal use.

"I too have problems with my DVR-106D. My computer is a Powermac dual pro 1.8Ghz, bought in February 2004. Under it's Mac OS of origin, I had no problems (10.3.5). Then, with 10.4.3, big big problems. I have more luck winning at the lottery than mounting a DVD. CDs are less problematic, though they're not 100% trouble free.

"I have the most problems however with DVD+RW. To the point I got rid of them and bought DVD-RW to replace them. DVD+R are fine (they don't display more problems than DVD-R or -RW). But DVD+RW will sometimes just get stuck in the drive. Even if I press the eject button, the drive won't open. I'm left with no other choice than to reboot the get my disk out. After my Mac has rebooted, the disk will eject with the press of the eject button. On our other Mac (an iMac) with a non Pioneer drive, the same DVD+RW will mount."

Getting a replacement drive In some cases, simply replacing the errant SuperDrive with another drive model is more convenient than dealing with warranty replacement, and the only option for those machines outside of warranty coverage.

Several users have replaced their Pioneer 106D mechanisms with Pioneer 109 mechanisms, which do not seem to suffer from similar mounting issues.

One reader who did so is Robby Berman, who writes:

"I had this problem, too, and wound up replacing the drive with a Pioneer 109, which also supports dual-layer burning and works perfectly with my G5 with no patching required. No problems since then, of course. Considering how cheap internal SuperDrives have become -- mine cost $44 -- I think folks should just toss their 106Ds. I asked a local Apple Store genius if he didn't think it was pretty bad that my 106D drive lived only about a year, and he said, 'yes,' but offered no remedy or replacement. I'm sure Apple knows by now that this was a lousy SuperDrive -- their discussion boards are full of people whose 106Ds went south."

Confirmation for firmware fix Meanwhile, some users have reported that upgrading their drive's firmware with the firmware patch we identified yesterday has resulted in more successful mounts.

MacFixIt reader George Goldmark writes:

"I too have had disc mounting problems with my internal Pioneer DVR-106D. My external Pioneer DVR-109, on the other hand, has worked flawlessly and never has a problem with any discs.

"The 106D problem is random, although it seems to happen more often when Toast is running in the background. Updating to the latest Pioneer firmware seems to have helped the problem with less frequent non-reads."

Retrospect-related mounting glitch MacFixIt reader Al notes that EMC Dantz' Retrospect backup software optionally installs some software so that users can mount Retrospect backup media in the Finder. The software is installed at:

/System/Library/Filesystems/retrospectcd.fs

Al writes:

"With this installed, open the console and system logs using the CONSOLE app found in your Utilities folder. Insert almost any CD/DVD, and if the console/system logs start spewing messages about alignment errors, or bad disk formats, you know your problem. Your fix is to remove this file system software."

Though we suspect this issue is not at play in most of the cases mentioned here, it's still worth checking out if you have Retrospect installed.

Delete DVD Player .plist Another issue that is culpable in a handful of cases involving mounting problems is a corrupt DVD Player property list (.plist) file.

MacFixIt reader Richard writes:

"After the Mac OS X 10.4.3 update I was getting many of the problems mentioned. After try the hints and getting no were. I did the one thing I forgot. I deleted the DVD Player preference file. Everything has been going great."

The file in question is com.apple.DVDPlayer.plist, which is located in: