Can't Eject SimCity 4

[Trivia]

This is regarding my girlfriend's G5 Power Mac running OS 10.4.11.

She is unable to eject the DVD for SimCity 4 once she puts it in. We've tried several other disks and have had no problem with ejecting them. We've also tried that disk in another drive and haven't had trouble.

The game installed and runs fine, so it seems unlikely to me that there's something physically wrong with the disc.

Rebooting and holding the mouse button down doesn't work. F12 doesn't work. Those were the only CD ejecting tricks I knew, although searching this forum I see that there are some more yet to try. Still, I'd love to be able to figure out what the root cause of this problem is. Could it be related to the game itself somehow? It seems like very odd behavior, but I don't have extensive experience with Macs.

She tried calling the tech support line for the game. The only advice they had to offer was to try it in another drive to see if the disk itself was defective. Beyond that they had nothing.

Any tips on getting the CD out and on solving the actual problem would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

You can also eject a disc using either Disc Utility or iTunes (iTunes ~> Controls ~> Eject Disc)

 

[Walrus666]

This is regarding my girlfriend's G5 Power Mac running OS 10.4.11.

She is unable to eject the DVD for SimCity 4 once she puts it in. We've tried several other disks and have had no problem with ejecting them. We've also tried that disk in another drive and haven't had trouble.

The game installed and runs fine, so it seems unlikely to me that there's something physically wrong with the disc.

Rebooting and holding the mouse button down doesn't work. F12 doesn't work. Those were the only CD ejecting tricks I knew, although searching this forum I see that there are some more yet to try. Still, I'd love to be able to figure out what the root cause of this problem is. Could it be related to the game itself somehow? It seems like very odd behavior, but I don't have extensive experience with Macs.

She tried calling the tech support line for the game. The only advice they had to offer was to try it in another drive to see if the disk itself was defective. Beyond that they had nothing.

Any tips on getting the CD out and on solving the actual problem would be greatly appreciated.

Did you "quit" Sim City 4 before trying to eject the disc?

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

You could always look in Activity Monitor (MacintoshHD ~> Applications ~> Utilities ~> Activity Monitor) to see if there are any processes that you need to Force Quit. Anything with Sim City 4 in it's name for eg.

 

[Trivia]

Did you "quit" Sim City 4 before trying to eject the disc?

That's one of the more odd things about the issue. You don't actually have to run the game at all. Once you put the disc in it won't come out again, period. I don't know if it starts something running in the background at that point or something like that. I'll have to check for that. I don't have access to the machine right now.

Thanks, though, everyone. I should be able to try some of these things soon.

 

[Walrus666]

That's one of the more odd things about the issue. You don't actually have to run the game at all. Once you put the disc in it won't come out again, period. I don't know if it starts something running in the background at that point or something like that. I'll have to check for that. I don't have access to the machine right now.

Thanks, though, everyone. I should be able to try some of these things soon.

You can try this AppleScript as well (see attachment). Unless the disc is "wedged in", it should work.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

@ Walrus666:

Cool script Walrus ... I recommend you check out OpenMenu X, I couldn't get by without it.

@ Trivia:

When you download Walrus' AppleScript and unzip it, place it here:

MacintoshHD ~> Library ~> Scripts ~> Finder Scripts​

Then go to your Applications Folder and launch the AppleScript Utility which you'll find in the AppleScript Folder.

Place a tick in the "Show Script Menu in menu bar" box.

Now the AppleScripts are easily accessed whenever you need one.

Now, select the script from the drop-down menu and have a crack at that Sim City 4 disc and see if it'll eject.



.

 

[Walrus666]

@ Walrus666:

Cool script Walrus ... I recommend you check out OpenMenu X, I couldn't get by without it.

@ Trivia:

When you download Walrus' AppleScript and unzip it, place it here:

MacintoshHD ~> Library ~> Scripts ~> Finder Scripts​

Then go to your Applications Folder and launch the AppleScript Utility which you'll find in the AppleScript Folder.

Place a tick in the "Show Script Menu in menu bar" box.

Now the AppleScripts are easily accessed whenever you need one.

Now, select the script from the drop-down menu and have a crack at that Sim City 4 disc and see if it'll eject.



.

Thanks Spawn. I must have uploaded that script around five times. You can also find it with a few others in our AppleScript forum. If you like a challenge, I have an AppleScript called "Iconizer" that could use a little polish. It has the potential for being a pretty cool app!
https://www.mac-help.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4543

 

[Walrus666]

Thanks Spawn. I must have uploaded that script around five times. You can also find it with a few others in our AppleScript forum. If you like a challenge, I have an AppleScript called "Iconizer" that could use a little polish. It has the potential for being a pretty cool app!
https://www.mac-help.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4543

Apparently, the Iconizer script don't need polish after all if it's ran in Leopard. I'm running Leopard 10.5.2 on an Intel Mac and all of the pictures have icons of the actual pictures. Nice!

 

[Trivia]

Sorry to resurrect a long-dead thread, but I've finally solved this wretched problem and it was so odd that I thought I'd share it with all the folks that tried to help us out. We weren't having luck with any of the suggestions. We ended up even wiping the drive and reinstalling the whole OS because we were having some other problems as well, but the problem with SimCity 4 came right back.

Taking another stab at it today, I was looking really closely at the disk and discovered that there's a little ring of some gummy, sticky substance around the disks hole on the bottom side. It seems like it must have been just tacky enough to convince the drive that something was interfering with it trying to open and to cause it to give up. The ring is very precisely shaped. I think it must have been some kind of manufacturing mishap. Bizarre. I was pulling my hair out over this one.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

 

[Walrus666]

Sorry to resurrect a long-dead thread, but I've finally solved this wretched problem and it was so odd that I thought I'd share it with all the folks that tried to help us out. We weren't having luck with any of the suggestions. We ended up even wiping the drive and reinstalling the whole OS because we were having some other problems as well, but the problem with SimCity 4 came right back.

Taking another stab at it today, I was looking really closely at the disk and discovered that there's a little ring of some gummy, sticky substance around the disks hole on the bottom side. It seems like it must have been just tacky enough to convince the drive that something was interfering with it trying to open and to cause it to give up. The ring is very precisely shaped. I think it must have been some kind of manufacturing mishap. Bizarre. I was pulling my hair out over this one.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Thanks for the info.