General Mac hardware discussions forum: cd rom icon doesn't show on desktop (G4)

iMac or laptop or tower? Guessing tower.

Are the CD's you are inserting Commericially produced or the result of a home burn?



P

I wasn't suggesting that these CD's were less than legitimate. Some CD players cannot read CD's that were burned in a home burner. Commercially produced CD's are pressed, not burned.
So, given the the first CD player may have failed, is the replacement supported by the OS?
Do you have a Firewire case you could try the CD player in?
Did I mention repairing the disk permissions? If not, do it and see what the result is. Check ALL the internal connections to the CD drive.

P

The problem is that the CD icon do not appear on the desktop when a CD is inserted into the drive. The subject of CD burning was not mentioned. This machine did not come with a burner but may have had one added. However, the poster did not indicate that.
Adding a piece of software, like perma burn, is probably not going to help the CD's mount on the desktop. Even unsupported Burners are Read Supported by the OS. As the poster says, the drive appears in the system profiler.

P

Sorry, I just noticed this post. To install OS X you have to be booted from the CD. You cannot copy the files to the machine, via a thumbdrive, and expect it to boot. There are thousands of files that you can't see, let alone copy.

Sorry.
I believe I would now look around for a firewire CD enclosure and go with an external drive.


P

I had a problem with my burner refusing to mount disks after a failed attempt to insall X. Zapping the PRAM (hold command - option - p - r on startup til you hear 3 or 4 startup chimes then let go) fixed the problem.

I'm really happy that I could help. It happened to me and I didn't know what to do. But I like to flash the PRAM when I have troubles and I find that a lot of times it helps. SI I tried it and it worked

I've had this issue and usually doing a file permission repair using disk util works...

the drive should appear again after doing this...you notice a fix of /dev file occurs this is where the problem occurs.


Will

... which is pretty much what msyeed said at the beginning of his post. Since your Mac is as old as mine, I'll add the question, "What version of OS X are you running?"

Hop on over to www.macsales.com and get yourself a Firewire enclosure for a CD.
Put your existing CD inside and see if it works. If it doesn't trash it. Purchase a new CD-r/w from the same place and install it in the Mac. If it does not work in the Mac, put it in the enclosure.

P

Is your issue what is being discussed here?

If so be sure to supply all the answers to the questions above to speed along the process of getting help.
Bob