Pioneer 105 scratching discs

[mberndt100]

hi,
I have an internal Pioneer DVR-105 (Mac Superdrive) which is inside my iMac G4. The other day I was burning a DVD which I left overnight. When I returned in the morning Toast reported the verification failed.

I assumed it was just bad media so I tried burning it again. Came back again to find this time it didn't even finish burning.

I looked at the failed discs and noticed some pretty severe scratches on them.

so I inserted a blank CD just to see what would happen and as the drive spun up I heard a very loud buzzing noise. I ejected the disc after about 10 seconds and already it was scratched.

I tried one of those cleaning discs and it actually ripped the bristles off those little brushes on the disc.

I used one of those condensed air cleaners to blow air into the drive and it seemed to get a little quieter but still scratching the disc.

Does anyone know what is causing this problem? I am not mechanically inclined so I am afraid to open up the iMac to get to the drive. Is it shot?

Any advice would be extremely helpful. Thanks so much.

Mike Berndt

[Bullworth]

If you've done all of the above I would replace the drive. If it managed to tear the bristles off of a cleaning disc something has to be seriously wrong/broken/damaged. I know you said you're not inclined to open the Mac but it's actually pretty simple unless there's someone you know who can do it for you to take the drive out and gently shake/tilt it to different sides just to see if you can hear anything loose but from your description a replacement seems to be the only option.
The buzzing sound is a sure indicator that something is wrong, especially if it continued to scratch the discs. Bummer dude, never heard of anything like that happening but anything is possible.