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The PowerMac G5 is a desktop computer first produced in 2003 by the Apple Corporation. This guide will review the repair process of an Apple PowerMac G5 model number A1047 EMC 2061 from 2004. It was discontinued in 2006 as part of the Intel switch first to developers then consumers.

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Power Mac G5 won't read DVDs

A SuperDrive equipped PowerMac G5 running OS-X Tiger will read and burn CDs, but won't read DVDs. Upon checking the hard drive "partitioning" scheme, it shows that it's formatted with the older Apple Partition Map - not "GUID". Could this be the cause of its inability to see DVDs? If I also re-partition the Hard Drive as GUID and upgrade the OS to 10.5 Leopard, will this solve the problem? (I already reset the PRAM and reset the "Open Firmware").

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Do you mean it will not read blank DVDs or ANY DVDs?

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The superdrives used in the G5 will only read/write -R/RW, they will not work with +R/RW.

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DVD Drives , with age, like all things wear out. try replacing it with a newer, faster drive, the superdrives that that mac shipped with are either 8X-16X, now there are 24X DVD Burners, and a dvd burner shouldn't cost more then $50, but on tigerdirect, you can get them for around $30

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This article may be helpful:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/10562

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Check in System Profiler. ( apple logo / about this mac / more info ) under disk burning on the left hand pane. Check to see if it really is a Superdrive and also check which formats the drive can burn / read . It might be that it won't read for example DVD-RW discs and those are the only ones you have available.

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Demon! That is a cool tip, I never noticed that before.

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"GUID" is intelmac boot only So don't try that!

How do you know this is a "superdrive" - what kind of DVD media are you attempting to burn? Sometimes that's a problem.

I agree SystemProfiler will have all the info on the drive, trust it.

Have you cleaned the drive with an over the counter cleaning disk?

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My guess is that the laser diode for burning/reading DVDs has failed or is out of calibration. I see this all the time. I would say it's not related to the formatting of the drive. The replacement drives are cheap and very easy to replace.

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If it's orginal Superdrive that came with this G5, it's probably just worn out. Just replace it with any DVD cheap drive - in DTP Studio I was taking care of, I have to replace intensively used DVD drives every year.

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I bet its your media. Not the drive. Well, its a collaboration of the age of the superdrive coupled with what I assume is newer media or media that is encoded beyond your older super drives read capabilities.

I've seen this problem many times as well on PCs with older drives and up to date or newer media. Change the media brand and/or type.

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The PowerMac G5 is a desktop computer first produced in 2003 by the Apple Corporation. This guide will review the repair process of an Apple PowerMac G5 model number A1047 EMC 2061 from 2004. It was discontinued in 2006 as part of the Intel switch first to developers then consumers.

http://www.applereviewed.net

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There is another DVD compatible?

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