CD-ROM not recognizing burned discs

[codingitwrong]

I just bought a Power Mac G3 B&W and am hoping to run Mac OS X Server 1.2 (Rhapsody 5.6) on it. I had original install media back in the day but sadly don't have it anymore. I've burned a copy of the installer disc, but sadly the machine's CD-ROM drive does not appear to recognize any burned CD-ROMs, only original install media. (I tested a number of burned CD-ROMs that work fine on other machines, and none worked here. And the Server installer works fine on other machines.)

I tried a few other options to boot into the Server installer. A USB CD-ROM drive plugged into this machine does successfully mount the disc, but it's not bootable off of it. Putting it onto a partition of a FireWire drive does allow it to mount too, but this machine does not seem bootable off FireWire, and that matches some of what I read online. I tried putting it onto a partition of the *internal* hard drive, but the installer caught on and didn't allow it I don't see any original Mac OS X Server 1.2 install discs for sale right now on EBay.



The only remaining option I can think of to get Server installed is to find a replacement internal CD-ROM drive that *does* successfully read burned media. Can anyone think of anything else to try? I'm curious what my chances are that a given internal CD-ROM drive successfully reading burned media; I'm guessing it might be 50/50.

Thank you for any ideas!

 

[Byrd]

Try - other media, burn CD at slower speed, clean the optical drive lens. If no success a replacement Pioneer branded DVD PATA drive would work well.

 

[codingitwrong]

Thank you! After your suggestion I tried burning two different images at the slowest supported speed, and no luck, so I will look into your other suggestions next. I appreciate it.

 

[ireflect]

I've having exactly the same problem with my B&W G3 (rev 1 motherboard). I tried burning a MacOS 9.2.2 Universal installer CD, as well as burning the original install media for this machine. Neither will boot.

Luckily there is a SCSI card in this machine, so I may try booting from a SCSI CD-ROM or RaSCSI/PiSCSI.

 

[codingitwrong]

I got lucky and saw an internal IDE CD-ROM drive at the first thrift shop I visited, and it worked great to boot CDs. The B&W eject button on the faceplate doesn't work with it because the drive's eject button is on the right instead of in the center, but that's a small price to pay for booting off burned discs.

 

[Phipli]

I got lucky and saw an internal IDE CD-ROM drive at the first thrift shop I visited, and it worked great to boot CDs. The B&W eject button on the faceplate doesn't work with it because the drive's eject button is on the right instead of in the center, but that's a small price to pay for booting off burned discs.

Try cleaning the lens in the original drive. It often gets them working better.

 

[codingitwrong]

Since I don't have a lot of hardware experience, I was hesitant to open it up to clean the lens at first. But now that I have another drive, you're right: it would be good to eventually clean this one to get it working (New drive has RW as well, so there's a tradeoff back-and-forth between that and the button position. But regardless, better to have both working.)

 

[Phipli]

Since I don't have a lot of hardware experience, I was hesitant to open it up to clean the lens at first. But now that I have another drive, you're right: it would be good to eventually clean this one to get it working (New drive has RW as well, so there's a tradeoff back-and-forth between that and the button position. But regardless, better to have both working.)

I'm not sure about the guts of that specific drive, but the main two bits of advice I can give are 1) eject the tray before you start using a paperclip 2) don't remove the lip from the tray, and just leave the bezel hung on the tray. The lips are fragile and the bezel is fine just hanging about once unclipped.

My quickguide to older drives :

Cleaning the Lens in a ’90s Apple CD Drive

Cleaning the Lens in a ’90s Apple CD Drive 90s CD-ROM drives frequently struggle to read CDRs (home written discs). Sometimes this can be helped by using another brand of disc or writing the …

stuffandnonsense.elephantandchicken.co.uk

 

[codingitwrong]

It is not a situation where I need to use a paperclip. It's a situation where I cannot press the button on the B&W bezel; instead, I have to manually lower the B&W bezel to press the button on the front of the CD-ROM drive itself. The button on the CD-ROM drive works.

 

[Phipli]

It is not a situation where I need to use a paperclip. It's a situation where I cannot press the button on the B&W bezel; instead, I have to manually lower the B&W bezel to press the button on the front of the CD-ROM drive itself. The button on the CD-ROM drive works.

I meant to dismantle the original drive sorry. Crossed wires

 

[codingitwrong]

Got it. I appreciate your help!

 

[Forrest]

FYI G4 PowerMacs and iMacs and newer, used the eject key at the right corner of the keyboard to open and close the CD/DVD drive tray. I don’t know if the G3 PowerMac used the same method.