Replaced existing original
SuperDrive (model 898A 678-592C) Manufactured April 2010
with a new one (898A 678-592F) manufactured January 2011
MacBook Pro 13" manufactured 2010
replacement drive will not operate
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13
Success RECAP
Situation Analysis:
2010 MacBook Pro with OS High Sierra
Disc device SuperDrive DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW (model 898A
678-0592C) Manufactured April 2010 failed mechanically.
Would not run or eject discs. This was a bit of a bother. The disc
drive is used intermittently but was useful as it can read and write to DVDs
and CDs, including dual-layer DVDs.
Action 1.
I removed and disassembled the drive. It could be made
operational by putting a swing arm back in place but was not reliable and
failed again (and again). Not the most reliable mechanical component I have
examined. Decided to get a replacement device from eBay.
Action 2.
Purchased Super Drive DVD RW (model 898A 678-592F)
manufactured January 2011 advertised as NEW. All others were scavenged parts
with questionable use histories.
The New unit arrived and certainly appeared in excellent unused
condition. Not a worn part.
When installed it would not energize. No power. Would not
receive disc, spin up, or eject.
I questioned the community whether this unit needed config
or a driver since the numbers differed.
(model 898A 678-0592C) vs (model 898A 678-592F). The
community responded NO. So I treated this as a DOA device. Unlucky purchase.
Conclusion Regarding this unit:
The Seller has:
or
2. a box of Unused units that failed QC at manufacturer and Seller may not know that.
Action 3.
I then purchased another (model 898A 678-0592C) on ebay and
installed it.
Results: this unit powered up and operated fine on CD and DVD.
Thanks to the Community for the help.
Success RECAP
Situation Analysis:
2010 MacBook Pro with OS High Sierra
Disc device SuperDrive DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW (model 898A
678-0592C) Manufactured April 2010 failed mechanically.
Would not run or eject discs. This was a bit of a bother. The disc
drive is used intermittently but was useful as it can read and write to DVDs
and CDs, including dual-layer DVDs.
Action 1.
I removed and disassembled the drive. It could be made
operational by putting a swing arm back in place but was not reliable and
failed again (and again). Not the most reliable mechanical component I have
examined. Decided to get a replacement device from eBay.
Action 2.
Purchased Super Drive DVD RW (model 898A 678-592F)
manufactured January 2011 advertised as NEW. All others were scavenged parts
with questionable use histories.
The New unit arrived and certainly appeared in excellent unused
condition. Not a worn part.
When installed it would not energize. No power. Would not
receive disc, spin up, or eject.
I questioned the community whether this unit needed config
or a driver since the numbers differed.
(model 898A 678-0592C) vs (model 898A 678-592F). The
community responded NO. So I treated this as a DOA device. Unlucky purchase.
Conclusion Regarding this unit:
The Seller has:
or
2. a box of Unused units that failed QC at manufacturer and Seller may not know that.
Action 3.
I then purchased another (model 898A 678-0592C) on ebay and
installed it.
Results: this unit powered up and operated fine on CD and DVD.
Thanks to the Community for the help.
The drive could be DOA, or the previous one's mechanical failure could conceivably have caused some otherwise unrelated electrical fault, or some other kind of damage exists.
For troubleshooting purposes you might consider replacing the original one to confirm it still powers up, and if so I'd write off its replacement as DOA.
As you know they're cheap enough, and the easiest component to replace on any Mac. They're even upgradable to a DVD-RW DL if you want; no drivers, nothing special required.
Blu-Ray is another story though (see "bag of hurt").
Optical drives were the most life-limited components on Macs, but the usual failure mode for them was age-related laser diode degradation. I've never encountered mechanical failure outside of sticking things in them that shouldn't be stuck. Very common.
Is it a SATA based drive or IDE based drive? The IDE drives sometimes had jumpers which needed to be properly configured. I don't recall what the 2010 era laptops used.
Keep in mind that generic optical drives may not be compatible with the MBPro since some MBPros have a modified optical drive which may sit further away from the physical case slot opening so you would not be able to insert a disc because the optical drive will never be able to grab the disk.
How is the replacement not operating?
Did the original one function? If it did not then the problem may lie elsewhere.
Those optical drives are generic and no configuration is required. Remove and replace, no need for anything else.
SATA Connect
Physical appearance of old and replacement identical
Purchased replacement on ebay as Operational
Not a generic drive - same China Panasonic manufacturer
Device just does not power up / accept new disc
These things are on ebay for about $10-$20 so I think i will just buy another and keep trying
The 13" MacBook Pro is vintage 2010 but it does everything I need it to for limited purposes.
I was wondering if I needed to install a new device driver but could not figure how to do that.
Mac OS High Sierra is outdated and will not upgrade at this point.
Thanks for the help
The original SuperDrive (model 898A 678-0592C) Manufactured April 2010 mechanically failed.
It powered up but any disc was trapped. I even disassembled it and made an attempt to get the little parts to agree with each other. But that was not reliable.
Replacement Super Drive (898A 678-592F) manufactured January 2011 was identical in every way but just would not power up at all. I was wondering if the difference in model # last letter was significant.
I ordered two with the identical ones with the same model number as the original. We will see.
I thought it was remove / replace no config required. Thanks for confirming that.
😎
Thanks for the update. It really is as simple as that.
replacing MacBook Pro UJ 898 SuperDrive
