DVD-RW eMac

19 posts / 0 new
Last post
Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
DVD-RW eMac

I have owned an eMac (G4 1GHz) for around 3 years, but about a month after receiving it it had to be sent back because of a dodgy monitor and a buzzing sound problem. When I received it back, it all worked fine, but there was one major difference: It appeared to have a DVD-RW drive, which it certainly did not have before, and which was not on the new eMacs they were selling at the time. On the DVD drive lip it says: "EMAC 1GHZ/1GB/80GB HD/DVD-RW/CD-RW/56K MDM", and this is backed up by the preferences in iTunes:
IMAGE(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/diorama42/DVD-RW.jpg)
Does anybody know why this is, and whether it is standard for Apple to upgrade repaired Macs as a kind of "sorry"

~~Diorama

The Czar's picture
Offline
Last seen: 13 years 8 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 287
I see two possibilities here:

I see two possibilities here:

1) It could be that the optical drive on your eMac might have been dodgy, and Apple had a surplus of DVD-RW drives. It would be cheaper for Apple to 'upgrade' your dodgy drive to a DVD-RW than to obtain a replacement stock drive in this situation.

2) The optical drive could be erroniously reporting itself as a DVD-RW drive.

I'd get a DVD-R and try to burn it, and see where that leaves you.

Cheers,

The Czar

Dr. Webster's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 hours 46 min ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1760
Are the rest of the specs on

Are the rest of the specs on the system you received the same as the ones on the system you sent? Are the serial numbers the same? Apple might have just swapped your hard drive from your old eMac into a new one to save time.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
Ah…

Now you mention the Serial number there was something I noticed. On the CD tray flap my Serial is given as: SVM3230LFNL2, Wheras on the System Profiler it is written as "SVM3230LNLZ", which, though similar, are by no means the same. I have never had a DVD-RW in my possesion, but write DVD-R discs perfectly.
One other problem that might be related is the fact the, no matter what speed discs I buy, the mac refuses to burn them faster than 16x. Any suggestions?

Dr. Webster's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 hours 46 min ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1760
That particular drive can onl

That particular drive can only burn CDs at 16X.

Offline
Last seen: 18 years 2 months ago
Joined: Dec 26 2003 - 16:21
Posts: 584
Serials

Neither of those serial numbers is valid.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
???

You mean they are wrong? I cannot show my cd flap as my camera is broken, but here is a picture of the system profiler:
IMAGE(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y3/diorama42/eMac.jpg)
The CD speed is annoying, as when I bought my eMac it advertised 48x burning.

Offline
Last seen: 18 years 2 months ago
Joined: Dec 26 2003 - 16:21
Posts: 584
Serial

Interesting, Apple's GSX reports that one as invalid. What serial comes up in the About This Mac dialog?

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
That's the only place I can f

That's the only place I can find my serial on the Mac, in "About this mac" and then clicking on "System Profiler", as you see in the pic. It is running 10.3.9

Offline
Last seen: 18 years 2 months ago
Joined: Dec 26 2003 - 16:21
Posts: 584
Ah...

In About This Mac, click the part that says Version 10.3.9(or similar) twice, and it shows the serial number.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
The serial nuber there is the

The serial number there is the same as the one in the system profiler. The build is 7W98.

iantm's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 8 months ago
Joined: Apr 2 2005 - 14:01
Posts: 709
weird

Though, that serial number does NOT follow the serial number conventions. 2 digits alpha(plant id), then 3 digits numeric (year and week made). ex. UV1294DELAN . This is the serial number for an iBook I had a while back. the three digits alpha is what is throwing that unit off. Was the repair done by an Apple service depot, an Apple dealer/service center, or a third party (compusa *shudders*)?

- iantm

Offline
Last seen: 18 years 2 months ago
Joined: Dec 26 2003 - 16:21
Posts: 584
Hmm...

That iBook of yours shipped with 128MB of RAM AND a copy of OS X 10.0.... now THAT would be interesting! Acute

Dr. Webster's picture
Offline
Last seen: 12 hours 46 min ago
Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
Posts: 1760
Re: ???


The CD speed is annoying, as when I bought my eMac it advertised 48x burning.

Yeah, that's because when you bought your eMac it had a Combo drive, which can burn at 48x. The SuperDrive you have now can only burn CD-Rs at 16x. If you had bought an eMac with a SuperDrive, it would have been advertised as only burning CDs at 16x.

If you really don't like the CD burning speed, take the machine back to where you had it fixed and tell them you don't want the free upgrade they gave you.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
Some Place

I am not sure exactly where it was repaired, though I am pretty sure it was by apple, as the receipt had apples all over it and It was still in warranty.

Offline
Last seen: 6 years 7 months ago
Joined: Dec 20 2003 - 10:38
Posts: 851
As a policy, apple does not u

As a policy, apple does not upgrade computers to make ammends. In fact, as a policy Apple does not say it's sorry. Period.

What they will do however is, if they run out of something like your old optical drive, it upgrade it to the next level they have on hand. This goes so far as to replacing old hard drives with new high capacity models that short stroke the head to match the old capacity.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
Re: ???


Yeah, that's because when you bought your eMac it had a Combo drive, which can burn at 48x. The SuperDrive you have now can only burn CD-Rs at 16x. .

Sorry, I made a mistake on that: I have checked the receipt and it was originally the Superdrive. However, I was under the impression that the superdrive a-la 2003 was not able to RE-write DVDs, only to write them.

Offline
Last seen: 19 years 3 months ago
Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 11:31
Posts: 10
Re: As a policy, apple does not u

As a policy, apple does not upgrade computers to make ammends. In fact, as a policy Apple does not say it's sorry. Period.

They also upgraded my mouse to the Pro-mouse when the cable fell out of the end.

iantm's picture
Offline
Last seen: 3 years 8 months ago
Joined: Apr 2 2005 - 14:01
Posts: 709
Re: Hmm...

That iBook of yours shipped with 128MB of RAM AND a copy of OS X 10.0.... now THAT would be interesting! ;D

It was. Though, I was given the 10.1 Update disc when I bought it. I used 10.0 briefly, it felt just marginally more polished than the public beta, which i had used on my bondi prior to this. It was a good machine, which served me well into 2003. I moved up to PowerBook G4's at that point.

- iant,

Log in or register to post comments