Countless Macintosh users have been troubled over the last year by a firmware-corrupting update that Apple Inc. released for Matshita disc drives in MacBook and MacBook Pro computers, SuperDrive 2.1 Update. Possible solutions were premiered, but none proved permanent. I wrote this post to help those affected by this problem; if you’re lucky enough not to be plagued by this issue, skip this post.
My complete personal saga with this issue lives in the Matshita SuperDrive category of this blog. I encourage you to read the buildup to my permanent solution. Through these personal experience and heartache, I have determined that the only solution for this problem is a SuperDrive replacement.
First, a recap of my experience. In August 2007, after applying to SuperDrive 2.1 update, I realized that my MacBook Pro wasn’t recognizing or burning certain types of media. I sent my MacBook Pro in for a drive replacement. Unfortunately, Apple’s technicians only reinstalled Tiger on my computer, which didn’t solve my issue. Although I was outraged, I decided to deal with the issue another time. In late December 2007, I came across a firmware patch for my drive and applied it. It was only a temporary fix, as many users have found out. Come late January 2008, I finally decided to try Apple Support again. After two phone calls, I arranged a drive replacement.
After twelve days, I had my computer back with a brand new HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA drive.
I believe that the only solution for this problem is to call Apple Support and demand a SuperDrive replacement. As far as I know, Apple have not officially recognized the SuperDrive problem. Here are my tips:
- Take names of your support agents.
- Stay consistent with your story.
- Don’t admit any firmware hacks, period.
- Don’t take “no” for an answer.
- Call back if you don’t get what you want.
- Mention all of the articles you’ve read online of people saying its a corrupted firmware caused by an Apple update.
- If you’re told to reinstall your operating system, tell the support agent you’ll do so and call back in an hour.
- Email all of Steve Jobs’ email addresses. I’m serious. (steve@mac.com, sjobs@apple.com, sjobs@mac.com). Tell your story and show your disappointment in the company. You’ll likely get contacted by Apple’s Executive Office.
Please leave any thoughts and experiences in the comments. I hope every last person affected by this issue gets his or her SuperDrive replaced.
Mr. Mondello,
Thanks very much for helping so many with the firmware/superdrive problem. People like you, who help simply because they can, are truly the bright side of humanity. That’s isn’t blowing smoke. It’s a fact.
I am in Iraq so taking care of problems like this on my own is a necessity. (As you probably know, there are no Apple stores in Baghdad.)
I tried to run the command as you instructed but the command, ./simple_flash 0 UJ857-KBVB-MBP-rpc1.dat, returned “open for read error”.
Do you know what this means or what I may have done wrong?
Your solution worked for a lot of people. Many expressed their gratitude on the Apple forums. When I saw it I hoped it would solve the issue for me. This last step may be all I need.
Thank you for you help if you can offer any.
Rob Crimmins
I wish there were an easier way, but this seems to be the only solution. Thanks for posting your thoughts and advice here.
Rob, I don’t know what that error means. Did it return that error instantly or after a period of time?
Also, I just want to reiterate that the firmware wasn’t my solution. I credited the author of the software in my original post.
Rabid Biscuit, no problem. Good luck.
Hey Ricky, did Apple foot the bill for a drive replacement? I have the same problem and it is so aggravating to have a “nice” computer that can’t even read or write discs! I have been trying to contact Apple and get them to do my replacement for free since my computer worked before the update, and after their “automatic updates” it was busted.
Ironically - the only 2 discs (out of hundreds) that it has been able to read are Microsoft Office 2004 and Office 2008. Go figure :P. Maybe I should call redmond and try to convince them why I (poor college student) should have them help “save me” from terrible product support?
Hey Travis, I’m glad you stopped by!
Apple footed the bill, yes, but I have AppleCare.
Have you emailed Steve Jobs?
Hi, i seem to have the same problem :[
every time i try to watch a dvd or put ANY CD in the drive, it spins, stops, spins, and spits it back out.
I’ve been concidering a replacement drive… but the thing is my warranty must be over now… and i’m just a poor student. x.x i dont have the money to pay for a $600 replacement. any tips? :[
Same problem here…!
After 1 year, my intel iMac stop reading disks, neither CDs or DVDs… It just makes a lot of noises, spins, stops, noises again… and then, just like everybody else in this forum, it spits the disk out.
Apple user forum is full with complains like these… but I think they just don’t give a rat’s *ss…
And $600 for a replacement! They have to be kidding us!
Hey Lionel, thanks for stopping by.
My experience has involved MacBook and MacBook Pro drives. I haven’t heard of similar problems with iMac drives, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I don’t have any information to offer you, really.
Good luck!
Actually, the Apple forums are full of people complaining about the superdrives in their intel iMacs (17″, 20″, 24″) (All of them have the same common problem: Matshita drives)
Unfurtunately, my iMac was 14 months old when my drive failed and I didn’t get the extended guarantee plan…
So I’m still looking for a solution, cause I’m not a really great friend of external drives…
Thanks anyway, I think if there’s an option for MacBooks, maybe there’s still hope for us iMac owners.
Lionel, I’m sorry to hear that that’s the case. I really don’t have much to tell you other than send that magic email to Steve Jobs that I detailed in this post.
Good luck. Please let me know how it turns out for you.
It’s been a month since I wrote an email to all possible Steve Jobs addresses, and still no luck… not a single response from Apple.
I even wrote to addresses such as support@apple.com or customerservice@apple.com, since there is NO support email address in Apple website!!!
What I’m really interested now is getting the physical specs of the new iMac (3Ghz) superdrives, in order to know if is it possible to replace my Matshita superdrive with one of the new Pioneer ones…
Any help would be appreciated
Lionel, that’s really awful that you haven’t received any responses from Apple yet. Unfortunately, I don’t have any advice to offer you at this point.
In finding out the specs on the SuperDrive in the new iMac, I’d ask around on the Apple Forums.
Good luck!
Hi there,
I’m Bogdan from Romania and I have same problem as you. Unfortunatelly my macbook pro is out of the warranty and I tried all the tricks I could imagine in order to make apple to change my superdrive for free. My macbook was bought last year in US by a friend of mine. I also tried to fix the unit while travelling (tried at Apple in Austria, also in Netherlands). All the apple guys said one thing. If it is still under the warranty we will do the replacement for free. If not, we are sorry, you have to pay. Apple in US said that this replacement will cost me 400$. Apple in Netherlands around 210 euro, and around 215 euro in Austria. Finally I got back to Romania and the estimated cost was around 230 euro.
In the end I found this site: http://www.powerbookmedic.com. I bought the apple superdrive for my 15″ macbook pro for the amazing price of 149.99$. Shipping to Romania was around 60$. So with a total of 213$ I have a new apple superdrive (much faster and better than the one that came on my macbook).
I am not telling you that is a real solution cuz you need to pay for it, but so far, is the cheapest one I could find.
Hope this will be helpfull for anyone around this blog.
PS: Apple makes great computers, laptops, hardware and so on, but their support team sucks big time. The guys from Netherlands and Austria didn’t want to admit that they have any ideea of the Superdrive Firmware Update 2.1 and all about it. In Romania they said that it is my imagination till I got my macbook to them and they tried to write a simple cd and they got speachless…Even they know about it, they won’t admit it.
One more thing, please excuse any grammar mistakes or incorrect pharases.